Theseus Di Angelo
by son of Hades 12
Summary: This is an AU of my Theseus Jackson story. What if Bianca had a twin? with a little brother and twin sister Theseus Di Anglo will help Percy and bring down Kronos.I don't own Percy Jackson.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Di Angelo house hold, Washington D.C, 1940s

In the middle of the room two children are playing, a boy and a girl and on a couch 5 feet away sits two adults and a boy sitting in the woman's lap the man says,

"Please Maria I'll divorce Persephone and I'll put the kids in a safe place."

The woman says,"But Hades, my love, I want to raise them."

He says,"Maria, Zeus will kill you and the kids for the sake of his paranoia."

She asks,"Where will you put them?"

He says,"The Lotus Hotel it slows time so they will remain young for a long time."

She nods,"Fine I'm going to get my purse, please watch the kids especially the twins, Bianca and Theseus are troublemakers."

Hades smiles and picks up the two in the middle of the room just then a flash of light and a figure appears, a woman with Auburn hair and silver eyes Hades says,

"Artemis what brings you here?"

The woman says,"So you're the god Maria was talking about my best friend gave birth to Hades' children."

Hades looked at her,"Then how about I make you their godmother?"

She looks at him,"You'd do that even though I am the man-hating goddess?"

He nods,"Yes."

She smiles,"I accept I bless these kids with power over my domians."

She touches the foreheads of the kids and they are covered in a silver aura before it vanishes.

Thunder rumbles and Artemis says,"Protect the kids I'll go protect Maria."

She runs up the stairs and Hades erects a shield of black energy and lightning hits the hotel blasting it to pieces and 3 feet away sits the body of Maria Di Angelo Artemis comes up and says,

"Hades send them to the hotel I'll bury Maria."

The god nods tears in his eyes,"Alecto put the kids in the Lotus Hotel after you dip them in the river Lethe."

the Fury bows and leaves as Hades goes back into the underworld.

* * *

**It's pretty different but next I'll show 70 years later in the titans curse and instead of Athena, Artemis is his god mother.**


	2. Saved by girls in silver

ch. 1 saved by girls in silver

Me and my siblings sit in the bleacher at a school dance me and Bianca talking about the school year and all the weird things we can do and Nico plays with his mythomagic stuff.

The vice principle walks up and says,"Follow me Di Angelo's."

We follow him into a hall and I say,"What do you want Thorn?"

Something flies by my ear and I jump Thorn says,"Stay there someones coming."

a teenager comes into the hall and we stare at the spot behind him

He advanced slowly, lowering the tip of my sword. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. "

We didn't answer. Our eyes were obviously full of fear.

"My name's Percy, " He said "I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe. "

Bianca's eyes widened. Her fists clenched. Only too late did Percy realize what her look meant.

She wasn't afraid of him. She was trying to warn him. A cold laugh echoed through the hall.

"Yes, Perseus Jackson" Dr. Thorn said. His accent mangled the J in my last name. "I know who you are. "

he tried to free his shoulder. His coat and shirt were pinned to the wall by some kind of

spike-a black dagger-like projectile about a foot long. It had grazed the skin of his shoulder as it passed through his clothes.  
A dark silhouette now moved toward us. Dr. Thorn stepped into the dim light. He still looked human, but his face was ghoulish. He had perfect white teeth and his brown/blue eyes reflected the light of my sword.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym, " he said. "I hate middle school dances. "

Percy tried to swing his sword again, but he was just out of reach.

WHIIIISH! A second projectile shot from somewhere behind Dr. Thorn. He didn't appear to

move. It was as if someone invisible were standing behind him, throwing knives.

Next to me, Bianca yelped. The second thorn impaled itself in the stone

wall, half an inch from her face.

"All three of you will come with me, " Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw. "

I don't know what Dr. Thorn is, but he is fast.

Percy closed my eyes.

"What are you doing, Jackson?" hissed Dr. Thorn. "Keep moving!"

He opened my eyes and kept shuffling forward. "It's my shoulder, " Percy says, "It burns. "

"Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you. Walk!"

Thorn herded us outside, he marched us into the woods. We took a snowy path dimly lit by old-fashioned lamplights. The wind blowing through my ripped clothes was so cold that

I felt like a Thecesicle.

"There is a clearing ahead, " Thorn said. "We will summon your ride. "

"What ride?" Bianca demanded. "Where are you taking us?"

"Silence, you insufferable girl!"

"Don't talk to my sister that way. '" Nico and I both said. His voice quivered, but I was confident.

Dr. Thorn made a growling sound that definitely wasn't human. It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, but I forced myself to keep walking and pretend I was being a good little captive.

"Halt, " Thorn said.

The woods had opened up. We'd reached a cliff overlooking the sea. At least I could hear the waves churning and I could smell the cold salty froth. But all I could see was mist and darkness.

Dr. Thorn pushed us toward the edge. Percy stumbled, and Bianca caught him.

"Thanks, " he murmured.

"What is he?" she whispered. "How do we fight him?"

"I... I'm working on it. "

"I'm scared, " Nico mumbled. He was fiddling with a mythomagic figure

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!"

We turned.

Thorn's two-tone eyes glittered hungrily. He pulled something from under his coat. At first I thought it was a switchblade, but it was only a phone. He pressed the side button and

said, "The package-it is ready to deliver. "

There was a garbled reply, and I realized Thorn was in walkie-talkie mode.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump!There is the sea. Save yourself. "

"What did he call you?" Bianca and I both muttered, doing that twin thing.

"I'll explain later, " Percy said.

"You do have a plan, right?"

"I would kill you before you ever reached the water, " Dr. Thorn said to Percy. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

A flicker of movement behind him, and another missile whistled so close to Percy that it nicked his ear. Something had sprung up behind Dr. Thorn-like a catapult, but more flexible...

almost like a tail.

"Unfortunately, " Thorn said, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead. "

"Who wants us?" Bianca demanded. "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong.

We don't have any family. Nico,Theseus and I... " Her voice broke a little. "We've got no one but each other. "

Aww," Dr. Thorn said. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."

"Luke," Percy said. "You work for Luke."

Dr. Thorn's mouth twisted with distaste ."You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

"The General?" Percy asked. Then he realized he'd said it with a French accent. "I mean… who's the General?"

Thorn looked toward the horizon. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."

I turned and saw a light in the distance, a searchlight over the sea. Then I heard the chopping of helicopter blades getting louder and closer.

"Where are you taking us?" I said angrily.

"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."

"They're not dolls! They're figurines! And you can take your great army and—"

"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well… there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."

"The Great what?" I asked. Anything to keep him talking while I tried to figure out a plan.

"The stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn smiled evilly. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

"Okay," Bianca whispered to me. "He's completely nuts."

"We have to jump off the cliff," I told her quietly. "Into the sea."

"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too."

we were knocked against Percy, knocking us to the ground. For a split second, Dr. Thorn was taken by surprise, so his first volley of missiles zipped harmlessly over our heads. Then two others attack Thorn, I pull Nico aznd Bianca back towards the school

The girl moved in with her spear. "For Zeus!"

I thought Dr. Thorn was a goner. The girl jabbed at his head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. His hand changed into an orange paw, with enormous claws that sparked against the girl's shield as he slashed.

The sound of the helicopter was getting louder behind me, but I didn't dare look.

Dr. Thorn launched another volley of missiles at the girl, and this time I could see how he did it. He had a tail—a leathery, scorpionlike tail that bristled with spikes at the tip. The missiles deflected off the shield, but the force of their impact knocked the girl down.

The guy sprang forward. He put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play—a frantic jig that sounded like something pirates would dance to. Grass broke through the snow. Within seconds, rope-thick weeds were wrapping around Dr. Thorn's legs, entangling him.

Dr. Thorn roared and began to change. He grew larger until he was in his true form—his face still human, but his body that of a huge lion. His leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.

"A manticore!" a blonde girl said, now visible.

"Who are you people?" I demanded. "And what is that?"

"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

"Get down!" the blonde pushed the us flat into the snow.

I heard a thwack and a yelp, and the guy landed next to me with a thud.

"Yield!" the monster roared.

"Never!" the girl yelled from across the field. She charged the monster, and for a second, I thought she would run him through. But then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind us. The helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. The searchlights blinded the girl, and the manticore swatted her away with its tail. Her shield flew off into the snow. Her spear flew in the other direction.

"No!" Percy ran out to help her. he parried away a spike just before it would've hit her chest. He raised his shield over them both.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

We were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter. We had no chance.

Then I heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.

The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

"Curse you!" Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. Percy tried to swipe at him with his sword, but he wasn't as injured as he looked. He dodged Percy's attack and slammed his tail into Percy's shield, knocking him aside.

Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen, like Percy. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.


	3. Meeting our godmother

ch.2 meeting our godmother

"The Hunters!" The blonde cried.

Next to me, the first girl muttered, "Oh, wonderful."

I didn't have a chance to ask what she meant.

One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

I couldn't tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore.

The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," another girl said. This one was around my age, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Thalia and Percy, knowing they were weak and dazed.

"No.'" The blonde yelled, and she charged at the monster.

"Get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet said. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But the blonde leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as the blonde hung on for dear life.

"Fire!" Zoe ordered.

"No!" Percy screamed.

But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before anyone could react, the monster, with the blonde still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

He started to run after her, but the enemies weren't done with us. There was a snap-snap-snap from the helicopter—the sound of gunfire.

Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with auburn hair just looked up calmly at the helicopter.

"Mortals," she announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt."

She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into dust—no, not dust. The black metal dissolved into a flock of birds—ravens, which scattered into the night.

The Hunters advanced on us.

The one called Zoe stopped short when she saw the first girl. "You," she said with distaste.

"Zoe Nightshade." the first girl's voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."

Zoe scanned the rest of us. "Five half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."

"Yes," the younger girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. "You have to let us save her!"

The auburn-haired girl turned toward Percy. "I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help."

He tried to struggle to his feet, but a couple of the girls held me down.

"You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the auburn-haired girl said.

"Let me go!" Percy demanded. "Who do you think you are?"

Zoe stepped forward as if to smack him.

"No," the other girl ordered. "I sense no disrespect, Zoe. He is simply distraught. He does not understand."

The young girl looked at me, her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. "I am Artemis," she said. "Goddess of the Hunt."

I look at her and say,"Bianca what did the lawyer say our godmother's name was?"

She looks at me,"Artemis."

I look at the girl who said her name was Artemis and I say,"Excuse me I'm Theseus Di Angelo, are you our godmother Artemis?"

She smiles at me and says,"Yes I am, your father asked me to be a while back but I am not to tell anyone who your father is."

I nod and pull Nico and Bianca to stand beside her for safety.

"Kids," Percy said, "We came here to help you. You need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."

"Camp?" Bianca asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," Percy said. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."

I look at him,"I'll only go if you swear Bianca and Nico won't get hurt, if not I'd like to get to know my godmother."

She looks at me smiling and says,"You might be male but my blessing seems to be in effect."

She nods before saying to set up camp and she pulls us to her tent. I sit down in front of her waiting for the last member of this meeting, Percy comes in and sits down

"Join us, Percy Jackson," Artemis said.

I sat across from her on the tent floor. The goddess studied him.

"Are you surprised by my age?" she asked.

"Uh… a little."

"I could appear as a grown woman, or a blazing fire, or anything else I want, but this is what I prefer. This is the average age of my Hunters, and all young maidens for whom I am patron, before they go astray."

"Go astray?" Percy asked.

"Grow up. Become smitten with boys. Become silly, preoccupied, insecure. Forget themselves."

"Oh."

Zoe sat down at Artemis's right. She glared at Percy as if all the stuff Artemis had just said was his fault, like he'd invented the idea of being a guy.

"You must forgive my Hunters if they do not welcome you," Artemis said. "It is very rare that we would have boys in this camp. Boys are usually forbidden to have any contact with the Hunters. The last one to see this camp…" She looked at Zoe. "Which one was it?"

"That boy in Colorado," Zoe said. "You turned him into a jackalope."

"Ah, yes." Artemis nodded, satisfied. "I enjoy making jackalopes. At any rate, Percy, I've asked you here so that you might tell me more of the manticore. Bianca has reported some of the… mmm, disturbing things the monster said. But she may not have understood them. I'd like to hear them from you."

And so he told her.

When he was done, Artemis put her hand thoughtfully on her silver bow. "I feared this was the answer."

Zoe sat forward. "The scent, my lady?"

"Yes."

"What scent?" I asked.

"Things are stirring that I have not hunted in millennia," Artemis murmured. "Prey so old I have nearly forgotten."

She stared at Percy intently. "We came here tonight sensing the manticore, but he was not the one I seek. Tell me again, exactly what Dr. Thorn said."

"Um, 'I hate middle school dances.'"

"No, no. After that."

"He said somebody called the General was going to explain things to me."

Zoe's face paled. She turned to Artemis and started to say something, but Artemis raised her hand.

"Go on, Percy," the goddess said.

"Well, then Thorn was talking about the Great Stir Pot—"

"Stirring," Bianca corrected.

"Yeah. And he said, 'Soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus.'"

The goddess was so still she could've been a statue.

"Maybe he was lying," I said.

Artemis shook her head. "No. He was not. I've been too slow to see the signs. I must hunt this monster."

Zoe looked like she was trying very hard not to be afraid, but she nodded. "We will leave right away, my lady."

"No, Zoe. I must do this alone."

"But, Artemis—"

"This task is too dangerous even for the Hunters. You know where I must start my search. You cannot go there with me."

"As… as you wish, my lady."

I will find this creature," Artemis vowed. "And I shall bring it back to Olympus by winter solstice. It will be all the proof I need to convince the Council of the Gods of how much danger we are in."

"You know what the monster is?" Percy asked.

Artemis gripped her bow. "Let us pray I am wrong."

"Can goddesses pray?" I asked, because I'd never really thought about that.

A flicker of a smile played across Artemis's lips. "Before I go, Percy Jackson, I have a small task for you."

"Does it involve getting turned into a jackalope?"

"Sadly, no. I want you to escort the Hunters back to Camp Half-Blood. They can stay there in safety until I return."

"What?" Zoe' blurted out. "But, Artemis, we hate that place. The last time we stayed there—"

"Yes, I know," Artemis said. "But I'm sure Dionysus will not hold a grudge just because of a little, ah, misunderstanding. It's your right to use Cabin Eight whenever you are in need. Besides, I hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down."

Zoe muttered something about foolish campers.


	4. Apollo

ch.3 Apollo

Artemis brings us outside as dawn approaches Artemis stared into the east like she was expecting something. I sat in front of the hunters.

Finally the sky began to lighten. Artemis muttered, "About time. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter."

"You're, um, waiting for sunrise?" Percy asked.

"For my brother. Yes."

I would have asked that but didn't want to be rude to my godmother. I mean, I know the legends about Apollo—or sometimes Helios—driving a big sun chariot across the sky. But I also know that the sun was really a star about a zillion miles away. I've already gotten used to some of the Greek myths being true, but still… I didn't see how Apollo could drive the sun.

"It's not exactly as you think," Artemis said, like she was reading my mind.

"Oh, okay." Percy started to relax. "So, it's not like he'll be pulling up in a—"

There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth.

"Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks."

Parks?

I averted my eyes, and saw that the other kids were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until my winter coat felt like it was melting off of me. Then suddenly the light died.

I looked. And I couldn't believe it. It was a car. It was so awesome it glowed. Then I realized it was glowing because the metal was hot. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why I was now standing on green grass and my shoes were wet.

The driver got out, smiling. He looked about seventeen or eighteen, and for a second, This guy has the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. His smile was bright and playful. The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt.

"Wow," Bianca muttered. "Apollo is hot."

"He's the sun god," Percy said.

"That's not what I meant."

"Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter he could've blinded us without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"

Artemis sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."

"Hey, I was born first."

"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue—"

"So what's up?" he interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?"

Artemis grit her teeth. "I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."

"Sure, sis!" Then he raised his hands in a stop everything gesture. "I feel a haiku coming on."

The Hunters all groaned. Apparently they'd met Apollo before.

He cleared his throat and held up one hand dramatically.

"Green grass breaks through snow.

Artemis pleads for my help.

I am so cool."

He grinned at us, waiting for applause.

"That last line was only four syllables," Artemis said.

Apollo frowned. "Was it?"

"Yes. What about I am so big-headed?"

"No, no, that's six syllables. Hmm." He started muttering to himself.

Zoe Nightshade turned to us. "Lord Apollo has been going through this haiku phase ever since he visited Japan. 'Tis not as bad as the time he visited Limerick. If I'd had to hear one more poem that started with, There once was a goddess from Sparta—"

"I've got it!" Apollo announced. "I am so awesome. That's five syllables!" He bowed, looking very pleased with himself.

"And now, sis. Transportation for the Hunters, you say? Good timing. I was just about ready to roll."

"These demigods will also need a ride," Artemis said, pointing to us. "Some of Chiron's campers and the three siblings are my godchildren."

"No problem! Wait! What!" Apollo checked us out. "Godchildren!"

She nods and glares at him, he instantly drops it.

"Brother," Artemis said. "You should get going."

"Well!" he said. "We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way—west. And if you miss it, you miss it."

I looked at the Maserati, which would seat two people max. There were about twenty of us.

"Cool car," I said.

"Thanks, kid," Apollo said.

"But how will we all fit?"

"Oh." Apollo seemed to notice the problem for the first time. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose…"

He took out his car keys and beeped the security alarm button. Chirp, chirp.

For a moment, the car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the Maserati had been replaced by one of those Turtle Top shuttle buses like we used for school basketball games.

"Right," he said. "Everybody in."

Zoe ordered the Hunters to start loading. She picked up her camping pack, and Apollo said, "Here, sweetheart. Let me get that."

Zoe recoiled. Her eyes flashed murderously.

"Brother," Artemis chided. "You do not help my Hunters. You do not look at, talk to, or flirt with my Hunters. And you do not call them sweetheart, the same goes for my goddaughter."

Apollo spread his hands. "Sorry. I forgot. Hey, sis, where are you off to, anyway?"

"Hunting," Artemis said. "It's none of your business."

"I'll find out. I see all. Know all."

Artemis snorted. "Just drop them off, Apollo. And no messing around!"

"No, no! I never mess around."

Artemis rolled her eyes, then looked at us. "I will see you by winter solstice. Zoe, you are in charge of the Hunters. Do well. Do as I would do."

Zoe straightened. "Yes, my lady."

Artemis knelt and touched the ground as if looking for tracks. When she rose, she looked troubled. "So much danger. The beast must be found."

She sprinted toward the woods and melted into the snow and shadows.

Apollo turned and grinned, jangling the car keys on his finger. "So," he said. "Who wants to drive?"

The Hunters piled into the van. They all crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of us highly infectious males, Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang in the front with us, which seemed cold to me, but Nico didn't seem to mind.

"This is so cool!" Nico said, jumping up and down in the driver's seat. "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

"Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun… er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?"

Thalia blushed. "Hi, Lord Apollo."

"Zeus's girl, yes? Makes you my half sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. Man, I remember one time—"

"Brother," Artemis said. "You should get going."

"Oh, right." Then he looked at me, and his eyes narrowed. "Percy Jackson?"

"Yeah. I mean… yes, sir."

It seemed weird calling a teenager "sir," but I'd learned to be careful with immortals. They tended to get offended easily. Then they blew stuff up.

Apollo studied me, but he didn't say anything, which I found a little creepy.

"Well!" he said at last. "We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way—west. And if you miss it, you miss it."

I looked at the Maserati, which would seat two people max. There were about twenty of us.

"Cool car," Nico said.

"Thanks, kid," Apollo said.

"But how will we all fit?"

"Oh." Apollo seemed to notice the problem for the first time. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose…"

He took out his car keys and beeped the security alarm button. Chirp, chirp.

The Hunters piled into the van. They all crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of us highly infectious males, Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang in the front with us, which seemed cold to me, but Nico didn't seem to mind.

"This is so cool!" Nico said, jumping up and down in the driver's seat. "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

"Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun… er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?"


	5. Camp

ch.4 camp

Nico shook his head. "No."

"Well then, just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car."

"Can I drive?"

"No. Too young."

"Oo! Oo!" Grover raised his hand.

"Mm, no," Apollo said. "Too furry." He looked past Percy and focused on Thalia.

"Daughter of Zeus!" he said. "Lord of the sky. Perfect."

"Oh, no." Thalia shook her head. "No, thanks."

"C'mon," Apollo said. "How old are you?"

Thalia hesitated. "I don't know."

Apollo tapped his finger to his lips. "You're fifteen, almost sixteen."

"How do you know that?"

"Hey, I'm the god of prophecy. I know stuff. You'll turn sixteen in about a week."

"That's my birthday! December twenty-second."

"Which means you're old enough now to drive with a learner's permit!"

Thalia shifted her feet nervously. "Uh—"

"I know what you're going to say," Apollo said. "You don't deserve an honor like driving the sun chariot."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Don't sweat it! Maine to Long Island is a really short trip, and don't worry about what happened to the last kid I trained. You're Zeus's daughter. He's not going to blast you out of the sky."

Apollo laughed good-naturedly. The rest of us didn't join him.

Thalia tried to protest, but Apollo was absolutely not going to take "no" for an answer. He hit a button on the dashboard, and a sign popped up along the top of the windshield. I had to read it backward (which, for a dyslexic, really isn't that different than reading forward). I was pretty sure it said WARNING: STUDENT DRIVER.

"Take it away!" Apollo told Thalia. "You're gonna be a natural!"

"Speed equals heat," Apollo advised. "So start slowly, and make sure you've got good altitude before you really open her up."

Thalia gripped the wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked her.

"Nothing," she said shakily. "N-nothing is wrong."

She pulled back on the wheel. It tilted, and the bus lurched upward so fast I fell back and crashed against something soft.

"Ow" Bianca said.

"Sorry, sis."

"Slower!" Apollo said.

"Sorry!" Thalia said. "I've got it under control!"

I managed to get to my feet. Looking out the window, I saw a smoking ring of trees from the clearing where we'd taken off.

"Thalia," Percy said, "lighten up on the accelerator."

"I've got it, Percy," she said, gritting her teeth. But she kept it floored.

"Loosen up," Percy told her.

"I'm loose!" Thalia said. She was so stiff she looked like she was made out of plywood.

"We need to veer south for Long Island," Apollo said. "Hang a left."

Thalia jerked the wheel and again threw me into Grover, who yelped.

"The other left," Apollo suggested.

I made the mistake of looking out the window again. We were at airplane height now—so high the sky was starting to look black.

"Ah…" Apollo said, and I got the feeling he was forcing himself to sound calm. "A little lower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over."

Thalia tilted the wheel. Her face was chalk white, her forehead beaded with sweat. Something was definitely wrong.

The bus pitched down and somebody screamed. Maybe it was me. Now we were heading straight toward the Atlantic Ocean at a thousand miles an hour, the New England coastline off to our right. And it was getting hot in the bus.

Apollo had been thrown somewhere in the back of the bus, but he started climbing up the rows of seats.

"Take the wheel!" Grover begged him.

"No worries," Apollo said. He looked plenty worried. "She just has to learn to—WHOA!"

I saw what he was seeing. Down below us was a little snow-covered New England town. At least, it used to be snow-covered. As I watched, the snow melted off the trees and the roofs and the lawns. The white steeple on a church turned brown and started to smolder. Little plumes of smoke, like birthday candles, were popping up all over the town. Trees and rooftops were catching fire.

"Pull up!" Percy yelled.

There was a wild light in Thalia's eyes. She yanked back on the wheel, and I held on this time. As we zoomed up, I could see through the back window that the fires in the town were being snuffed out by the sudden blast of cold.

"There!" Apollo pointed. "Long Island, dead ahead. Let's slow down, dear. 'Dead' is only an expression."

Thalia was thundering toward the coastline of northern Long Island. There was Camp Half-Blood: the valley, the woods, the beach. I could see a pavilion and cabins and a amphitheater.

"I'm under control," Thalia muttered. "I'm under control."

We were only a few hundred yards away now.

"Brake," Apollo said.

"I can do this."

"BRAKE!"

Thalia slammed her foot on the brake, and the sun bus pitched forward at a forty-five-degree angle, slamming into the Camp Half-Blood canoe lake with a huge FLOOOOOOSH! Steam billowed up, sending several frightened girls scrambling out of the water with half-woven wicker baskets.

The bus bobbed to the surface, along with a couple of capsized, half-melted canoes.

"Well," said Apollo with a brave smile. "You were right, my dear. You had everything under control! Let's go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?"

When we get out I hear,

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," Percy said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge. Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me. Oh boy Lady Artemis wants this given to Chiron."

She hand Percy an envolope.

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"—he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking—"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

Zoe rolled her eyes, but I guess she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at Percy. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus. "Later, Thalia, see ya my god nephews and niece." he called. "And, uh, be good!"

He gave Thalia a wicked smile, as if he knew something she didn't. Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. I turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When I looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

Nico was still looking cheerful.

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," Percy said. "He's… well, you'll see.

"If the Hunter girls don't like him," I grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

Percy leads us towards a big blue house decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. I see two guys in the parlor one with hair so black it was purple and a man with a horse shoe imprinted on his shirt

He smiled when he saw Percy and Thalia. "Percy! Thalia! Ah, and this must be—"

"Nico,Bianca, and Theseus di Angelo," Percy said. "They are half-bloods."

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

"Well…"

His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

"Oh, dear,"the black-purple haired guy said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!"

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at us. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friends to the den and show him our orientation film."

I look at Percy,"Shouldn't you show the paper Zoe gave you to Chiron."

He nods and hands the paper to the horseshoe man and he nods,"It seems you are Artemis' godchildren therefore you are allowed in her cabin as your cabin and the hunters will tell you about this no orientation film needed Grover take them to Artemis' cabin."

He nods and me and Bianca pull Nico with us as we walk towards a silver cabin I open the door and walk in to be ambushed and the hunters start asking thousands of questions Zoe yells,

"Stop! they can't answer every question let's start with asking them if they want us to train them."

I smile,"I'd like to train with you I want to be able to protect my siblings."


	6. A Quest

ch.5 a quest

I jump over Zoe and slash in an X with both my daggers Zoe holds up her daggers and blocks I jump back and slide under her before touching both my daggers against her back.

She nods,"Theseus, you are a natural you've already mastered the sword, the bow, tracking, now you are getting good with your daggers all you need to learn now is your stealth we should get you a sword from the camp weapons shed follow me."

We run up to a shed we walk in and I see a black sword in a silver scabbard I say,"Zoe I like this one."

She says,"Sure Phoebe will get back with your sister soon and Amy is probably already done with your brother."

I smile and walk to the cabin with her we meet up with Phoebe, Amy, Nico, and Bianca and right in the middle of camp everyone gasps looking at me, Bianca,and Nico.

I look up and see an image of a black helmet above me. Thunder rumbles and and lightning strikes as the bolt zips toward us I push my hands above me and a giant dome black flames appears above mine, Nico's,Bianca's, Amy's, Phoebe's, and Zoe's heads when the lightning stops I fall down gripping my sword.

**The Next Day**

I wake up to see all the hunters looking at me worried I say,"Hey guys, what did I miss?"

They smile and I ask,"Aren't you supposed to hate guys?"

Zoe says,"You're the godson of our mistress you're an exception because you're basically our godbrother since the hunt is basically the daughters of Artemis."

I nod.

Zoe says,"Now get up it's time to go to lunch."

I nod and jump up running off to the pavilion I sit down at the Artemis table and one of the guys from another table asks,"Who are you and why are you sitting at the Artemis table?"

I smile,"Theseus Di Angelo godson of Artemis."

He says,"Wow Artemis has a godson and I will personally destroy you in the capture the flag game."

I smile,"Be ready for disappointment."

He walks back over to his table laughing when he gets to his table I see someone tell him something and he pales. I smile as Nico Bianca and the hunters join me. We laugh and I say,

"Hey Zoe what was the images above our heads about yesterday?"

She sighs,"Your father claimed you, you're a son of Hades."

I smile,"Cool, can I summon the dead!"

She nods and says,"About the sword you picked I did some research and that sword was owned by the first son of Hades and he also had the powe to summon and control black-fire the stuff you made the dome with yesterday."

I look at the sword and see something written on the hilt I say,"Zoe, look at this,Xaos what does that mean?"

Zoe says,"It's Greek for Chaos it's the name of the sword another name for it is black-flames."

I nod and start eating I quickly finish after lunch we get ready for the game Zoe says,"since you and Bianca are new fighters and twins you'll guard the flag."

I nod and we wait.

Soon after the game started. I see Percy was running at top speed. He leaped over the creek into our territory. I could tell that he could see our silver flag up ahead. He ran into me.

"Sorry!" he yelled. he ripped down the silver silk flag from the tree and took off.

I smile and pull out my bow I notch an arrow and shoot it the blunt arrow hits his back he slows down and I notch a net arrow and shoot it when the net pops out I run up and take our flag back.

"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For the fifty-sixth time in a row."

"Perseus Jackson!" Thalia yelled, storming toward Percy. She was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armor. Everybody cringed and backed up because of Aegis. It took all my willpower not to cower.

"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" she bellowed.

Percy balled his fists. "I had the flag, Thalia!"

"I saw a chance and I took it!"

"I WAS AT THEIR BASE!" Thalia yelled. "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in, we would've won."

"You had too many on you!"

"Oh, so it's my fault?"

"I didn't say that."

"Argh!" Thalia pushed him, and was blown backward ten feet into the water. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs.

"Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean to—"

A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe.

Percy stood up. "Yeah," he growled. "I didn't mean to, either."

Thalia was breathing heavily.

"Enough!" Chiron ordered.

But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?"

"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!"

He raised his sword, but before he could even defend myself, Thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod

I growled and yelled,"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP AND STOP FIGHTING OR SO HELP ME I'LL DRAG YOU BOTH INTO MY FATHERS PALACE MYSELF!"

The ground shakes violently and black-fire stops Thalia's lightning bolt. I jump and hit Percy in the back of the head with my swords hilt then I jump and kick Thalia to the ground.

Then everyone turns to see something coming towards us.

Someone… something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.

"This is impossible," Chiron said. I'd never heard him sound so nervous. "It… she has never left the attic. Never."

And yet, a withered mummy shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around our feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

None of us dared move. Then her voice hissed inside my head. Apparently everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears.

I am the spirit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python.

The mummy regarded me with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably toward Zoe. Approach, Seeker, and ask.

Zoe swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"

The mummy's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. I saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. The mummy spoke:

Six shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

Then, as we were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The mummy sat down on a rock and became as still as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.

Zoe is called by Chiron to the big house and she asks me and Bianca to go with her to the cabin leader meeting. The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either.

When we get there a guy says,"What're they doing here it's a meeting for cabin leaders?"

I say,"Zoe asked us here now shut the fuck up and let's get this meeting over with."

Zoe started the meeting off on a positive note. "This is pointless."

"Cheez Whiz!" Grover gasped. He began scooping up crackers and Ping-Pong balls and spraying them with topping.

"There is no time for talk," Zoe continued. "Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."

"And go where?" Chiron asked.

"West!" Bianca said "You heard the prophecy. Six shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get Six hunters and go."

"Yes," Zoe agreed. "Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."

"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia said. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We're supposed to do this together."

"No!" Zoe said. "The Hunters do not need thy help."

"Your" Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said thy in, like, three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times."

Zoe hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. " Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Forget it."

"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."

"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet. "One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"

"Mr. D," Chiron sighed, "with all due respect, whose side are you on?"

Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, my dear centaur. Just trying to be helpful."

"We're supposed to work together," Thalia said stubbornly. "I don't like it either, Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"

Zoe grimaced, but I could tell Thalia had scored a point.

"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."

"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."

"Artemis must be present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."

"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes, Lord Dionysus."

Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."

"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."

"Three and three," Percy said.

Everybody looked at Percy.

"We're supposed to have seven," Percy said, "Three Hunters, three from Camp Half-Blood. That's more than fair."

Thalia and Zoe exchanged looks.

"Well," Thalia said. "It does make sense."

Zoe grunted. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers."

"You'll be retracing the goddess's path," Chiron reminded her. "Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: The bane of Olympus shows the trail. What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group is best."

Zoe picked up a Ping-Pong paddle and studied it like she was deciding who she wanted to whack first. "This monster—the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."

Everybody looked at Dionysus, I guess because he was the only god present and gods are supposed to know things. He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he glanced up, "Well, don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation."

"Chiron," I said, "you don't have any ideas about the monster?"

Chiron pursed his lips. "I have several ideas, none of them good. And none of them quite make sense. Typhon, for instance, could fit this description. He was truly a bane of Olympus. Or the sea monster Keto. But if either of these were stirring, we would know it. They are ocean monsters the size of skyscrapers. Your father, Poseidon, would already have sounded the alarm. I fear this monster may be more elusive. Perhaps even more powerful."

"That's some serious danger you're facing," Connor Stoll said. (I liked how he said you and not we.) "It sounds like at least two of the five are going to die."

"One shall be lost in the land without rain" Beckendorf said. "If I were you, I'd stay out of the desert."

There was a muttering of agreement.

I say,"Lost doesn't exactly mean dead you know."

They look at me I say,"There are two other meanings, one is kidnapped and the other is disappearing for a while."

Everyone nodded

"And the Titan's curse must one withstand," Silena said. "What could that mean?"

I saw Chiron and Zoe exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn't share it.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand," Grover said in between bites of Cheez Whiz and Ping-Pong balls. "How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?"

There was heavy silence around the table.

"There will be deaths," Chiron decided. "That much we know."

"Oh, goody!" Dionysus said.

Everyone looked at him. He glanced up innocently from the pages of Wine Connoisseur magazine. "Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don't mind me."

"Percy is right," Silena Beauregard said. "Three campers should go."

"Oh, I see," Zoe said sarcastically. "And I suppose you wish to volunteer?"

Silena blushed. "I'm not going anywhere with the Hunters. Don't look at me!"

"A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at," Zoe scoffed. "What would thy mother say?"

Silena started to get out of her chair, but the Stoll brothers pulled her back.

"Stop it," Beckendorf said. He was a big guy with a bigger voice. He didn't talk much, but when he did, people tended to listen. "Let's start with the Hunters. Which three of you will go?"

Zoe stood. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe . Our best tracker."

"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis Stoll asked cautiously.

Zoe nodded.

"The one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor added..

"Yes," Zoe snapped. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Travis said. "Just that we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store." He held up a big silver T-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?"

She just sighed and took the T-shirt. "As I was saying, I will take Phoebe."

"And for campers?" Chiron asked. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lap. "Anything to help Artemis!"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood."

"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"

"Absolutely!"

Zoe wavered. I didn't know what a tracker's song was, but apparently Zoe thought it was a good thing.

"Very well," Zoe said. "And the second camper?"

"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.

Zoe says,"I'll choose the last two Bianca and Theseus."

A stoll says,"Wait Theseus is a boy."

Zoe says,"Yes but he is Artemis' godson so he is the godbrother of every girl in the hunt as the hunt is basically Artemis' adopted children."

"Whoa, wait a sec," Percy said. "I want to go too."

Thalia said nothing. Chiron was still studying him, his eyes sad.

"Oh," Grover said, suddenly aware of the problem. "Whoa, yeah, I forgot! Percy has to go. I didn't mean… I'll stay. Percy should go in my place."

"He cannot," Zoe said. "He is a boy. I won't have Hunters traveling with a boy, unless it's one of Artemis' godsons."

"You traveled here with me," Percy reminded her.

"That was a short-term emergency, and it was ordered by the goddess. I will not go across country and fight many dangers in the company of a boy."

"What about Grover?" Percy demanded.

Zoe shook her head. "He does not count. He's a satyr. He is not technically a boy."

"Hey!" Grover protested.

"I have to go," Percy said. "I need to be on this quest."

"Why?" Zoe asked. "Because of thy friend Annabeth?"

I felt myself blushing. I hated that everyone was looking at me."No! I mean, partly.I just feel like I'm supposed to go!"

Nobody rose to my defense. Mr. D looked bored, still reading his magazine. Silena, the Stoll brothers, and Beckendorf were staring at the table. Bianca gave him a look of pity.

"No," Zoe said flatly. "I insist upon this. I will take a satyr if I must, but not a male hero."

Chiron sighed. "The quest is for Artemis. The Hunters should be allowed to approve their companions."


	7. The quest starts

ch.6 the quest starts

I lie down and quickly fall asleep and my dream is something I wish hadn't seen.

I was back in that barren cave, the ceiling heavy and low above me. Annabeth was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. She was too tired even to cry out. Her legs trembled. Any second, I knew she would run out of strength and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of her.

"How is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed.

a sandy-haired guy emerged from the shadows. He ran to Annabeth, knelt beside her, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry."

The hypocrite. Like he really cared what happened to her.

The deep voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows, at the edge of my dream. Then a meaty hand thrust someone forward into the light, my godmother—Artemis—her hands and feet bound in celestial bronze chains.

I gasped. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.

"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"

Artemis's eyes flashed with anger. I didn't know why she just didn't will the chains to burst, or make herself disappear, but she didn't seem able to. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.

The goddess looked at Annabeth and her expression changed to concern and outrage. "How dare you torture a maiden like this!"

"She will die soon," the sandy-haired guy said. "You can save her."

Annabeth made a weak sound of protest. My heart felt like it was being twisted into a knot. I wanted to run to help my godmother and the girl, but I couldn't move.

"Free my hands," Artemis said.

The guy brings out a strange sword. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess's handcuffs.

Artemis ran to Annabeth and took the burden from her shoulders. Annabeth collapsed on the ground and lay there shivering. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks.

The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."

"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."

"Indeed it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."

Artemis groaned "You know nothing of mercy, you swine."

"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now."

"No!'" Artemis shouted.

Luke hesitated. "She—she may yet be useful, sir.. Further bait."

"Bah! You truly believe that?"

"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."

The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of all mortals will be meaningless."

Luke gathered up Annabeth's listless body and carried her away from the goddess.

"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."

"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is… challenging."

The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern ceiling would collapse.

I woke up to see Zoe shaking me and Bianca looking at me scared I get up and say,"Bad dream, Artemis, Annabeth, man in darkness, winter solstice."

She looks at me and grabs my hand pulling me to the dining pavilion and she asks,"What did you see?"

I tell her my dream and she says,"We need to go now and we'll get there and save Lady Artemis faster."

I say,"What happened to Phoebe I didn't see her in her bunk."

Zoe says,"Centaur blood, the Stolls covered the inside of the shirt with it."

I say,"Can we cure it."

"It cannot be cured," Zoe was saying. "Not quickly, at any rate."

"That's terrible!"

"She will live," Zoe said. "But she'll be bedridden for weeks with horrible hives. There is no way she can go. It's up to me… and thee."

"But the prophecy," Bianca said. "If Phoebe can't go, we only have five. We'll have to pick another."

"There is no time," Zoe said. "We must leave at first light. That's immediately. Besides, the prophecy said we would lose one."

"In the land without rain," I said, "but that can't be here."

"It might be," Zoe said, though she didn't sound convinced. "The camp has magic borders. Nothing, not even weather, is allowed in without permission. It could be a land without rain."

"But—"

"Bianca, hear me." Zoe's voice was strained. "I… I can't explain, but I have a sense that we should not pick someone else. It would be too dangerous. They would meet an end worse than Phoebe's. I don't want Chiron choosing a camper as our seventh companion. And… I don't want to risk another Hunter or Nico."

Bianca was silent. "You should tell Thalia the rest of your dream."

"No. It would not help."

"But if your suspicions are correct, about the General—"

"I have thy word not to talk about that," Zoe said. "We will find out soon enough. Now come. Dawn is breaking."

We get up and walk back towards the cabin.

As we were leaving I felt something. I froze, my eyes narrowing. My hand crept toward my sword at my waist, but then Bianca said, "The lights of the Big House are on. Hurry!"

And I followed them out. We quickly got the other quest members and Chiron gave Zoe the keys to a camp van and we ran getting into it and Zoe drives out of camp and towards New York I ask,

"Hey Thalia as a daughter of Zeus what powers do you have?"

She looks at me and says,"Power over the lightning and I think I may be able to control the wind, what about you?"

I say,"Well I can summon and control black-fire or as some call it decay fire and I can control the earth a bit, I may have some control over regular fire,I can summon gems and money but it at the most a hundred dollars worth and also I can control shadow and the dead, I think that's it for my powers from Hades, my godmother gave me some powers too."

she asks,"What powers did my Lady Artemis give you?"

I say,"Tracking,stealth, enhanced bow skill, dagger skills, strength at night, I can see better at night than a normal demigod, and what was the last thing Zoe?"

She says,"Telepathic speaking with wild animals."

I nod and Thalia says,"Cool."

Thalia asks,"How do you feel about your father?"

I say,"I have no resentment towards my father he stayed distant to keep us safe after the lightning strike I think he chose then because I am becoming strong and I agree with him I will be the strongest demigod to ever exist and I'll be able to protect my brother and sister better and I'll make my dad proud."

she smiles,"You're pretty cool kid Theseus."

I smile,"Thank you Thalia, I appreciate the complement."

I look as Zoe says,"We're in Maryland stopping to get some things."

I nod and hand her a 20 dollar bill and I take another 20 and go into to the store I walk into the candy part and I get some gum and some suckers to share I walk back out with the others I hear,

"Grover, are you sure?" Thalia was saying.

"Well… pretty sure. Ninety-nine percent. Okay, eighty-five percent."

"And you did this with acorns?" Bianca asked, like she couldn't believe it.

Grover looked offended. "It's a time-honored tracking spell. I mean, I'm pretty sure I did it right."

"D.C. is about sixty miles from here," I said. "Nico, Bianca, and I…" I frowned. "We used to live there. That's… that's strange. I'd forgotten."

"I dislike this," Zoe said. "We should go straight west. The prophecy said west."

"Oh, like your tracking skills are better?" Thalia growled.

Zoe stepped toward her. "You challenge my skills, you scullion? You know nothing of being a Hunter!"

"Oh, scullion You're calling me a scullion? What the heck is a scullion?"

"Whoa, you two," Grover said nervously. "Come on. Not again!"

"Grover's right," Bianca said. "D.C. is our best bet."

Zoe didn't look convinced, but she nodded reluctantly. "Very well. Let us keep moving."

"You're going to get us arrested, driving," Thalia grumbled. "I look closer to sixteen than you do."

"Perhaps," Zoe snapped. "But I have been driving since automobiles were invented. Let us go."

I say,"Thalia to answer your question a scullion is a servant assigned the most menial kitchen tasks."

As we continued south I wondered whether I was right about the prophecy meaning taken.

As we got closer to Washington, we started slowing down and we crossed the Potomac River into central Washington. I started thinking about guns with celestial bronze bullets. I looked up to see Everybody was getting out. Grover pointed toward one of the big buildings lining the Mall. Thalia nodded, and the five of us trudged off into the cold wind.


	8. The Nemean Lion

ch 7 The Nemean Lion

We walk through the museum waiting for Grover to get back on the trail. I get frustrated and say,"I've had enough I'm going to try something."

I put my hand on the ground and close my eyes and I get a vision I see a mountain and i guess from the geography that it is in San Fransico.

I open my eyes and say,"San Fransico, California that's where we'll find my godmother, more acurately Mount Tam."

We walk towards the way out and a guy literally runs into Thalia I pull out my bow and point it at his head I look at him and notice it's Percy but I make no move to lower my bow.

I look at Thalia and Zoe,"Should I shoot? I need confirmation on wether I should kill, maim, or lower my bow?"

When Zoe realized who he was, she didn't seem anxious to tell me to lower my bow. "You! How dare you show thy face here?"

"Percy!" Grover said. "Thank goodness."

Zoe glared at him, and he blushed. "I mean, um, gosh. You're not supposed to be here!"

"Luke," He said, trying to catch my breath. "He's here."

The anger in Thalia's eyes immediately melted. She put her hand on her silver bracelet. "Where?"

He told us about the Natural History Museum, Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General.

"The General is here?" Zoe looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie."

"Why would I lie? Look, there's no time. Skeleton warriors—"

"What?" Thalia demanded. "How many?"

"Twelve," I said. "And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate,' to distract you over here. A monster."

Thalia and Grover exchanged looks.

"We were following Artemis's trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent… She must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. But we haven't found anything yet."

"Zoe," Bianca said nervously, "if it is the General—"

"It cannot be!" Zoe snapped. "Percy must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."

"Illusions don't crack marble floors," I told her.

Zoe took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. I didn't know why she was taking it so personally, or how she knew this General guy, but I figured now wasn't the time to ask. "If Percy is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," she said, "we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible… We must leave now."

"Good idea," I said.

"I was not including thee, boy," Zoe said. "You are not part of this quest."

"Hey, I'm trying to save your lives!"

"You shouldn't have come, Percy," Thalia said grimly. "But you're here now. Come on. Let's get back to the van."

"That is not thy decision!" Zoe snapped.

Thalia scowled at her. "You're not the boss here, Zoe. I don't care how old you are!You're still a conceited little brat!"

"You never had any wisdom when it came to boys," Zoe growled. "You never could leave them behind!"

Thalia looked like she was about to hit Zoe. Then everyone froze, I heard a growl so loud I thought one of the rocket engines was starting up.

Below us, a few adults screamed. A little kid's voice screeched with delight: "Kitty!"

Something enormous bounded up the ramp. It was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur. I'd seen this monster once before. Two years ago, I'd glimpsed it briefly from a train. Now, up close and personal, it looked even bigger.

"The Nemean Lion," Thalia said. "Don't move."

The lion roared so loud it parted my hair. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel.

"Separate on my mark," Zoe said. "Try to keep it distracted."

"Until when?" Grover asked.

"Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!"

I raised my bow up and Grover played a sharp tweet-tweet cadence on his reed pipes. I turned and saw Zoe and Bianca climbing the Apollo capsule. They were firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmlessly against the lions metallic fur. The lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on its side, spilling the Hunters off the back. Grover played a frantic, horrible tune, and the lion turned toward him, but Thalia stepped into its path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled. "ROOOAAAR!"

"Hi-yah!" Thalia said. "Back!"

The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire.

For a second, I thought Thalia had it under control. Then I saw the lion crouching, its leg muscles tensing. I knew the lion was going to pounce.

"Hey!" Percy yelled. He slashed with Riptide, a good strike to the flank that should've cut the monster into Meow Mix, but the blade just clanged against its fur in a burst of sparks.

The lion raked Percy with its claws, ripping off a chunk of his coat. He backed against the railing. It sprang at him, one thousand pounds of monster, and he had no choice but to turn and jump.

He landed on the wing of an old-fashioned silver airplane, which pitched and almost spilled him to the floor, three stories below.

An arrow whizzed past his head. The lion jumped onto the aircraft, and the cords holding the plane began to groan.

The lion swiped at him, and he dropped onto the next exhibit, a weird-looking spacecraft with blades like a helicopter.

"Zoe!" I shouted. "Target the mouth!"

The monster lunged. An arrow zipped past it, missing completely, and Percy dropped from the spaceship onto the top of a floor exhibit, a huge model of the earthHe slid down Russia and dropped off the equator.

The Nemean Lion growled and steadied itself on the spacecraft, but its weight was too much. One of the cords snapped. As the display swung down like a pendulum, the lion leaped off onto the model earth's North Pole.

"Grover!" Percy yelled. "Clear the area!"

Groups of kids were running around screaming. Grover tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the spaceship snapped and the exhibit crashed to the floor. Thalia dropped off the second-floor railing and landed across from Percy, on the other side of the globe. The lion regarded us both, trying to decide which of them to kill first.

"No clear shot!" Zoe yelled. "Get it to open its mouth more!"

The lion snarled from the top of the globe.

Percy looked around.

"Thalia," Percy said, "keep it occupied."

She nodded grimly.

"Hi-yah!" She pointed her spear and a spidery arc of blue electricity shot out, zapping the lion in the tail.

"ROOOOOOOAR!" The lion turned and pounced. Thalia rolled out of its way, holding up Aegis to keep the monster at bay, and Percy ran for the gift shop.

"This is no time for souvenirs, boy!" Zoe yelled.

Percy dashed into the shop. I drew Chaos and ran at the monster.


	9. The Gold Train

ch.8 The gold train

The lion seemed to know better than to open its mouth too much. It snapped at Thalia, slashing with its claws. It even kept its eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

Thalia jabbed at the monster and backed up. The lion pressed her.

"Percy," she called, "whatever you're going to do—"

The lion roared and swatted her like a cat toy, sending her flying into the side of a Titan rocket. Her head hit the metal and she slid to the floor.

"Hey!" I yelled at the lion. I looked at Percy and gave him a nod, It turned toward me and snarled.

There was only one way to get close enough. I charged, and as the lion leaped to intercept me, Percy took that moment to chunk a space food pouch into its maw—a chunk of cellophane-wrapped, freeze-dried strawberry parfait.

The lion's eyes got wide and it gagged like a cat with a hairball.

"Zoe, get ready!" I yelled.

Behind me, I could hear people screaming. Grover was playing another horrible song on his pipes.

I scrambled away from the lion. It managed to choke down the space food packet and looked at Percy with pure hate.

"Snack time!" Percy yelled.

It made the mistake of roaring at me, and I got an ice-cream sandwich in its throat. Fortunately, I had always been a pretty good pitcher, even though baseball wasn't my game. Before the lion could stop gagging, I shot in two more flavors of ice cream and a freeze-dried spaghetti dinner.

The lion's eyes bugged. It opened its mouth wide and reared up on its back paws, trying to get away from me.

"Now!" I yelled.

Immediately, arrows pierced the lion's maw—two, four, six. The lion thrashed wildly, turned, and fell backward. And then it was still.

Alarms wailed throughout the museum. People were flocking to the exits. Security guards were running around in a panic with no idea what was going on.

Grover knelt at Thalia's side and helped her up. She seemed okay, just a little dazed. Zoe and Bianca dropped from the balcony and landed next to me and Percy.

Zoe eyed Percy cautiously. "That was… an interesting strategy."

"Hey, it worked."

She didn't argue.

The lion seemed to be melting, the way dead monsters do sometimes, until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat, and even that seemed to be shrinking to the size of a normal lion's pelt.

"Take it," Zoe told Percy.

He stared at her. "What, the lion's fur? Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?"

"It is a spoil of war," she told Percy. "It is rightly thine."

"You killed it," he said.

She shook her head, almost smiling. "I think thy ice-cream sandwich did that. Fair is fair, Percy Jackson. Take the fur."

He lifted it up. As I watched, the pelt shifted and changed into a coat—a full-length golden-brown duster.

"Not exactly my style," he murmured.

I say,"Percy, if I may make a suggestion, shouldn't we sacrifice that to Artemis so she can gain strength?"

He looks at me and nods we then have Thalia light the pelt on fire. I say,"To Lady Artemis for your strength."

"We have to get out of here," Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."

I noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest us. They were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other.

"You did that?" I asked Grover.

He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds."

"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoe said. "Look."

Through the glass walls of the museum, I could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits. They were too far away for us to see their eyes, but I could feel their gaze aimed straight at me.

"Go," Percy said. "They'll be hunting me. I'll distract them."

"No," Zoe said. "We go together."

He stared at her. "But, you said—"

"You are part of this quest now," Zoe said grudgingly. "I do not like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the fifth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."

We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one we'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us.

"They know the van," Percy said. "We have to ditch it."

Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully.

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Percy said. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

"Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" He asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were through D.C. traffic.

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm.

"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoe said.

"Trust me," Bianca said.

Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," I said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As our train came above ground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Theseus, thinking of the subway."

I looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico,Bianca and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," I said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

They look at us like we're insane

"Theseus," Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

"We need to change trains," Percy said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I had no idea where we were going, but after a while we lost the helicopter.

Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here. We wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

We huddled around his fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet," I corrected, for the sake of the homeless guy.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

I gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, my godmother was in danger and in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And we were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless persons fire.

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," I said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

"That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him.

An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car. Zoe,Bianca, and I were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

I ask,"Zoe, why did you look so angry about this general guy?"

She says,"He's my father the titan Atlas."

I nod,"We'll beat him and you'll be okay."

She smiles,"My fate is set, I'm glad I got to meet the godchildren of my lady."

I say,"Nothing is set."


	10. The Gods' Junkyard

**Thanks for reading, this chapter is for you guys.**

* * *

ch.9 the gods junkyard

We'd arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

As we walked, Percy told us about a conversation with Apollo the night before—how he'd told Percy to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

We stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.

"Yes," Zoe said. "Coffee is good."

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you two go get us some food. Percy, Bianca,Theseus, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca and I weren't comfortable going with them, but we did.

Inside the store, we found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.

"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

The clerk looked so lonely, Percy bought a rubber rat. Then we headed back outside and stood on the porch.

"Wonderful," Thalia grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."

"But the clerk said—"

"I know," she told Percy. "I'm checking anyway."

We let her go. I know how she feels I hate standing around. Also, I had a feeling Thalia was still upset over something.

Bianca, Percy and I stood together awkwardly. I mean… Zoe doesn't completely trust him, and I'd never been alone with Bianca before. I wasn't sure what to say, especially now that she was a Hunter and everything.

"Nice rat," she said at last.

I set it on the porch railing. Maybe it would attract more business for the store.

"So… what do you think about being the godchildren of Artemis so far?" Percy asked.

I pursed my lips. "Well I think the hunt is pretty cool and for right now Zoe is our teacher."

"Cool."

"It sure is."

"Nico didn't understand why Zoe chose us for the quest ," Bianca murmured.

"He'll be all right," Percy said. "Camp Half-Blood takes in a lot of young kids. They did that for Annabeth."

Bianca nodded. "I hope we find her. Annabeth, I mean. She's lucky to have a friend like you."

"Lot of good it did her."

"Don't blame yourself Percy. You risked your life to save my brothers and me. I mean, that was seriously brave. If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have felt okay about leaving Nico at the camp. I figured if there were people like you there, Nico would be fine. You're a good guy."

The compliment took him by surprise.

We laughed. A couple hundred yards away, Grover and Zoe came out of the coffee shop loaded down with pastry bags and drinks. I kind of didn't want them to come back yet. It was weird, but I realized I liked talking to Percy. He wasn't so bad. A lot easier to hang out with than Grover and his talks about Pan, anyway.

"So what's the story with you guys and Nico?" Percy asked us. "Where did you go to school before Westover?"

I frowned. "I think it was a boarding school in D.C. It seems like so long ago."

"You never lived with your parents? I mean, your mortal parent?"

"We were told our parents were dead. There was a bank trust for us. A lot of money, I think. A lawyer would come by once in a while to check on us. Then Nico, Bianca and I had to leave that school."

"Why?"

She knit her eyebrows. "We had to go somewhere. I remember it was important. We traveled a long way. And we stayed in this hotel for a few weeks. And then… I don't know. One day a different lawyer came to get us out. He said it was time for us to leave. He drove us back east, through D.C. Then up into Maine. And we started going to Westover."

"So you two have been raising Nico pretty much all your lives?" He asked. "Just the two of you?"

We nodded.

"Zoe seems to trust you,"He said."What were you guys talking about, anyway—something dangerous about the quest?"

"When?"

Yesterday morning on the pavilion," he said "Something about the General."

My face darkened. "How did you… The invisibility hat. Were you eavesdropping?"

"No! I mean, not really. I just—"

I was saved from trying to explain when Zoe and Grover arrived with the drinks and pastries. Hot chocolate for Bianca and me. Coffee for them. I got the suckers out and passed them around, Me and Bianca glared at Percy.

"We should do the tracking ability," Zoe said. "Theseus, can you do it here?"

"Umm," I mumbled. Grover was chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. "I think so. I just need to concentrate."

Grover froze.

I was about to ask what was wrong, when a warm breeze rustled past, like a gust of springtime had gotten lost in the middle of winter. Fresh air seasoned with wildflowers and sunshine. And something else—almost like a voice, trying to say something. A warning.

Zoe gasped. "Grover, thy cup."

Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly the birds peeled off the cup and flew away—a flock of tiny doves. Percy's rubber rat squeaked. It scampered off the railing and into the trees—real fur, real whiskers.

Grover collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow. We gathered around him and tried to wake him up. He groaned, his eyes fluttering.

"Hey!" Thalia said, running up from the street. "I just… What's wrong with Grover?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "He collapsed."

"Uuuuuhhhh," Grover groaned.

"Well, get him up!" Thalia said. She had her spear in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. "We have to get out of here."

We made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of gray camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent gray skin and yellow eyes.

They drew their handguns. I'll admit I think it would be kind of cool to learn how to shoot a gun.

Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiraled to life on her arm, but the warriors didn't flinch. Their glowing yellow eyes bored right into Percy.

I drew Chaos, though I wasn't sure what good it would do against guns.

Zoe and Bianca drew their bows, but Bianca was having trouble because Grover kept swooning and leaning against her.

"Back up," Thalia said.

We started to—but then I heard a rustling of branches. Two more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded.

I wondered where the other skeletons were. I'd seen a dozen at the Smithsonian. Then one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it.

Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone. Suddenly I understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for us. These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon we'd have a full party on our hands.

"It's near," Grover moaned.

"It's here," Percy said.

"No," he insisted. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I was worried about his condition. He was in no shape to walk, much less fight.

"We'll have to fight," Thalia said. "Four of them. Five of us. Maybe they'll ignore Grover that way."

"Agreed," said Zoe.

"The Wild!" Grover moaned.

A warm wind blew through the canyon, rustling the trees, but I kept my eyes on the skeletons and I charged.

The first skeleton fired. Time slowed down. Percy deflected it off the edge of his blade and kept charging.

The skeleton drew a baton and Percy sliced off his arms at the elbows. Then he swung Riptide through his waist and cut him in half.

His bones unknit and clattered to the asphalt in a heap. Almost immediately, they began to move, reassembling themselves I summoned black-fire to my hands and it covered the blade as I charged the skeleton and burned it to ashes before it could put itself back together. The second skeleton clattered his teeth at Percy and tried to fire, but he knocked his gun into the snow.

I thought he was doing pretty well, until the other two skeletons shot at Percy I jumped forward and sliced the bullets in half. then I gabbed a gun from the ground and shot a skeleton in the head before slicing black-fire into them and the started to become ashes.

Thalia charged the last skeleton. Zoe and Bianca started firing arrows at it. Grover stood there and held his hands out to the trees, looking like he wanted to hug them, I grabbed him and moved him away.

There was a crashing sound in the forest to our left, like a bulldozer. Maybe the skeletons' reinforcements were arriving. Percy got to his feet and joined in attacking the skeleton.

There was no way to stop them except my black-fire. Zoe and Bianca fired at their heads point-blank, but the arrows just whistled straight through its empty skull. It lunged at Bianca, and I thought she was a goner, but she whipped out her hunting knife and stabbed the warrior in the chest. The whole skeleton erupted into flames, leaving a little pile of ashes and a police badge.

I smile,"Well that was easy."

I then black out.

I woke up on a giant pig I looked at the others to say something but thought better of it and closed my mouth.

As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.

"This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."

Nobody needed convincing. We slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. Then we waddled away as best we could with our saddle sores.

After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east.

"It likes the mountains better," I guessed.

"I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look."

Ahead of us was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Zoe Nightshade was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills… but then I noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.

"Whoa," I said.

"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Graver. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but Grover looked concerned.

"That's us," he said. "Those six nuts right there."

"Which one is me?" I asked.

"The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.

"Oh, shut up."

"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."

"A monster?" Thalia asked.

Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge…"

He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.

We decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of us wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark.

Zoe, Bianca, and I produced six sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of our backpacks.

The night got chilly fast, so Grover and Percy collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

"The stars are out," Zoe said.

She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.

"Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."

"This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

"You talk like you're not human," Percy said.

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be said for thee?"

"For you," Thalia corrected. "Not thee"

"But you use you for the beginning of a sentence."

"And for the end," Thalia said. "No thou. No thee. Just you"

Zoe threw up her hands in exasperation. "I hate this language. It changes too often!"

Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."

Zoe nodded sadly.

"Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee…"

I was pretty sure coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but I didn't have the heart to tell Grover. I thought about the rubber rat and the tiny birds that had suddenly come alive when the wind blew. "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want it to be."

"He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close."

Percy didn't answer. Probably didn't want to squash Grover's hopes.

"Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find the answer. In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

"No!" I yelled. "Not there!"

both me and Bianca looked really freaked out, like we'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster.

Zoe frowned. "Why?"

Bianca took a shaky breath. "I… I think we stayed there for a while. Nico,Theseus and I. When we were traveling. And then, I can't remember…"

Percy's and Grover's eyes met.

"Theseus," Percy said. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

My eyes widened. "How could you know that?"

"Oh, great," he said.

"Wait," Thalia said. "What is the Lotus Casino?"

"A couple of years ago," Percy said, "Grover, Annabeth, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time speed up."

"No," I said. "No, that's not possible."

"You said somebody came and got you out," I remembered.

"Yes."

"What did he look like? What did he say?"

"I… I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."

Zoe sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "You said that Washington, D.C., had changed when you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."

"Yes, but—"

"Bianca," Zoe said, "Can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly," Bianca said. She told us the correct name of the president.

"And who was the president before that?" Zoe asked.

I thought for a while. "Roosevelt."

Zoe swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin'?"

"Franklin," I said. "F.D.R."

"Like FDR Drive?" Percy asked.

"Bianca, Theseus," Zoe said. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."

"That's impossible," Bianca said. "I… I'm not that old."

She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled.

Thalia's eyes turned sad. I guess she knew what it was like to get pulled out of time for a while. "It's okay, Bianca, The important thing is you, Theseus and Nico are safe. You made it out."

"But how?" Percy said. "We were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have escaped after being there for so long?"

"I told you." I answered while hugging Bianca for comfort, Bianca looked about ready to cry. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And—"

"But who? Why did he do it?"

Before she could answer, we were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. I was half hoping it was Apollo, come to give us a ride again, but the engine was way too silent for the sun chariot, and besides, it was nighttime. We grabbed our sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of us.

The back door of the limo opened right next to Percy. Before he could step away, the point of a sword touched his throat.

Zoe and Bianca drew theirr bows and I drew Chaos. As the owner of the sword got out of the car, Percy moved back very slowly. He had to, because he was pushing the point under Percy's chin.

He smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"

He was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and combat boots. Wraparound shades hid his eyes.

"Ares," Percy growled.

The war god glanced at us friends. "At ease, people."

He snapped his fingers, and our weapons fell to the ground, except Chaos which he looked a bit surprised by..

"This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little farther under Percy's chin. "Of course I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady."

"What lady?" Thalia asked.

Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back."

He lowered his sword and pushed Percy away.

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."

"What's your business, Ares?" she said. "Who's in the car?"

Ares smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoe, Bianca, and I. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy a few minutes."

"We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.

"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."

Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off the door and the CLOSED sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"

"Go on," Percy told us. "I'll handle this."

"You heard the boy," Ares said. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control."

We reluctantly headed over to the taco restaurant.


	11. One Shall be lost

ch.10 One shall be lost in the land without rain

We suddenly appear in the junkyard Percy right beside us.

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked, once Percy told us about Aphrodite.

"Oh, uh, not sure," He said. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Percy. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."

"For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."

I say,"They've got a point, by using simple logic everyone knows the goddess of love only cares about herself."

Grover was looking at Percy funny.

"So," I said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoe said. "That is west."

"How can you tell?"

I look at the sky. "Ursa Major is in the north," I said, "which means that must be west."

I pointed west, then at the northern constellation, which was hard to make out because there were so many other stars.

"Oh, yeah," He said. "The bear thing."

Zoe looked offended. "Show some respect. It was a fine bear. A worthy opponent."

"You act like it was real."

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

We'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff… some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Percy said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!"

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

Zoe's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down. but I picked it back up and looked at it feeling with my powers my eyes widen,"This bow is Artemis'!"

Zoe looks at me,"Grab it then."

"I don't like this place," Thalia said. She gripped the shaft of her spear.

"You think we're going to get attacked by killer refrigerators?" Percy asked.

She gave Percy a hard look. "Zoe is right, Percy. Things get thrown away here for a reason. Now come on, let's get across the yard."

"That's the second time you've agreed with Zoe," He muttered, but Thalia ignored him.

We started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

I'd like to say we left the stuff alone, but there was too much cool junk not to check out some of it. I found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so sweet I had to pick it up. Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings.

Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. But between us and the road…

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of us was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

Bianca frowned. "They look like—"

"Toes," Grover said.

Bianca nodded. "Really, really large toes."

Zoe and Thalia exchanged nervous looks.

"Let's go around," Thalia said. "Far around."

"But the road is right over there," Percy protested. "Quicker to climb over."

Ping.

Thalia hefted her spear and Zoe drew her bow, but then I realized it was only Grover. He had thrown a piece of scrap metal at the toes and hit one, making a deep echo, as if the column were hollow.

"Why did you do that?" Zoe demanded.

Grover cringed. "I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?"

"Come on." Thalia looked at Percy. "Around."

He didn't argue. The toes were starting to freak me out, too. I mean, who sculpts ten-foot-tall metal toes and sticks them in a junkyard?

After several minutes of walking, we finally stepped onto the highway, an abandoned but well-lit stretch of black asphalt.

"We made it out," Zoe said. "Thank the gods."

But apparently the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, I heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal.

I whirled around. Behind us, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and I realized why they looked like toes. They were toes. The thing that rose up from the metal was a bronze giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall—a skyscraper with legs and arms. He gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. He looked down at us, and his face was deformed. The left side was partially melted off. His joints creaked with rust, and across his armored chest, written in thick dust by some giant finger, were the words WASH ME.

"Talos!" Zoe gasped.

"Who—who's Talos?" Percy stuttered.

"One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said. "But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype, maybe. A defective model.

The metal giant didn't like the word defective.

He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull, but I didn't figure that mattered. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship.

"Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?"

She stared accusingly at Percy.

Percy shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."

Bianca didn't say anything. I could swear she looked guilty, but I didn't have much time to think about it, because the giant defective Talos took one step toward us, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Grover yelped.

Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance us easily.

Everyone except me split up I pull Chaos out of its scabbard and coat the blade in black-fire, Defect-Talos slashes his sword downward, I hold Chaos up in defense and the black-fire burns through the automation's sword which crashes to the ground, I run up the nearest junk pile and jump onto the automation's shoulder.

I put my hand on the side of its head and summon black-fire putting a hole in the automation's head, That doesn't do much, I thought

I then summon as much black-fire as I can and the head starts to melt, I then push all my energy into my hand and make the flames bigger and stronger with half the head gone I start to feel tired and I push harder until the head is nothing but a pile of grey goop I look at the others and say,

"That was fun, well I'll be in a coma now."

I close my eyes and fall.

* * *

**Oops, looks like Theseus is out of commission for a while, now we know what it meant by lost, he can't fight or move much less help.**


	12. Orthys

ch.11 The garden of the Hesperides

I wake up slowly and hear , "We will never make it,"

Zoe said. "We are moving too slow. But we cannot leave the Ophiotaurus."

"Mooo," a half cow half serpent said. He swam next to Percy as we jogged along the waterfront.

We were heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was a lot farther than I'd realized. The sun was already dipping in the west.

"I don't get it," Percy said. "Why do we have to get there at sunset?"

"The Hesperides are the nymphs of the sunset," Zoe said. "We can only enter their garden as day changes to night."

"What happens if we miss it?"

"Tomorrow is winter solstice. If we miss sunset tonight, we would have to wait until tomorrow evening. And by then, the Olympian Council will be over. We must free Lady Artemis tonight."

"We need a car," Thalia said.

"But what about Bessie?" Percy asked.

Grover stopped in his tracks. "I've got an idea! The Ophiotaurus can appear in different bodies of water, right?"

"Well, yeah," He said. "I mean, he was in Long Island Sound. Then he just popped into the water at Hoover Dam. And now he's here."

"So maybe we could coax him back to Long Island Sound," Grover said.

"Then Chiron could help us get him to Olympus." "But he was following me" Percy said. "If I'm not there, would he know where he's going?"

"Moo," Bessie said forlornly.

"I… I can show him," Grover said. "I'll go with him."

Percy stared at him.

"I'm the only one who can talk to him," Grover said. "It makes sense."

He bent down and said something in Bessie's ear. Bessie shivered, then made a contented, lowing sound.

"The blessing of the Wild," Grover said. "That should help with safe passage. Percy, pray to your dad, too. See if he will grant us safe passage through the seas."

I didn't understand how they could possibly swim back to Long Island from California. Then again, monsters didn't travel the same way as humans.

"Dad," Percy said. "Help us. Get the Ophiotaurus and Grover safely to camp. Protect them at sea."

"A prayer like that needs a sacrifice," Thalia said. "Something big."

I thought for a second and summoned a diamond trident I say,"How about this?"

"Theseus," Grover said. "You are awake?"

I say,"Duh!"

Percy glanced at Zoe, who was watching him carefully. I threw the trident into the bay. It disappeared in a flash of light.

The sea breeze picked up.

Grover took a deep breath. "Well, no time to lose."

He jumped in the water and immediately began to sink. Bessie glided next to him and let Grover take hold of his neck.

"Be careful," Percy told them. "We will,"

Grover said. "Okay, um… Bessie? We're going to Long Island. It's east. Over that way."

"Moooo?" Bessie said.

"Yes," Grover answered. "Long Island. It's this island. And… it's long. Oh, let's just start."

"Mooo!" Bessie lurched forward.

He started to submerge and Grover said, "I can't breathe underwater! Just thought I'd mention—" Glub!

Under they went, and I hoped my uncle's protection would extend to little things, like breathing.

"Well, that is one problem addressed," Zoe said. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"

"Thalia's right," I said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one."

I didn't like that option. I mean, sure this was a life-or-death situation, but still, it was stealing, and it was bound to get us noticed.

"Wait," Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. "There is somebody in San Francisco who can help us. I've got the address here somewhere."

"Who?" I asked.

Thalia pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and held it up. "Professor Chase. Annabeth's dad."

After hearing Annabeth gripe about her dad for two years, I was expecting him to have devil horns and fangs. I was not expecting him to be wearing an old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles. He looked so weird, with his eyes bugging out through the glasses, that we all took a step back on the front porch.

"Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "Are you delivering my airplanes?"

Thalia, Zoe, Bianca, Percy, and I looked at each other warily.

"Um, no, sir," I said.

"Drat," he said. "I need three more Sopwith Camels."

"Right," Percy said, though I had no clue what he was talking about. "We're friends of Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" He straightened as if we'd just given him an electric shock. "Is she all right? Has something happened?"

None of us answered, but our faces must've told him that something was very wrong. He took off his cap and goggles. He had sandy-colored hair like Annabeth and intense brown eyes. He was handsome, I guess, for an older guy, but it looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, and his shirt was buttoned wrong, so one side of his collar stuck up higher than the other side.

"You'd better come in," he said.

It didn't look like a house they'd just moved into. There were LEGO robots on the stairs and two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The coffee table was stacked with magazines, and a little kid's winter coat was spread on the floor. The whole house smelled like fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. There was jazz music coming from the kitchen. It seemed like a messy, happy kind of home—the kind of place that had been lived in forever.

"Dad!" a little boy screamed. "He's taking apart my robots!"

"Bobby," Dr. Chase called absently, "don't take apart your brother's robots."

"I'm Bobby," the little boy protested. "He's Matthew!"

"Matthew," Dr. Chase called, "don't take apart your brother's robots!"

"Okay, Dad!"

Dr. Chase turned to us. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."

"Honey?" a woman called. Annabeth's stepmom appeared in the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun.

"Who are our guests?" she asked.

"Oh," Dr. Chase said. "This is…"

He stared at us blankly.

"Frederick," she chided. "You forgot to ask them their names?"

We introduced ourselves a little uneasily, but Mrs. Chase seemed really nice. She asked if we were hungry. We admitted we were, and she told us she'd bring us some cookies and sandwiches and sodas.

"Dear," Dr. Chase said. "They came about Annabeth."

I half expected Mrs. Chase to turn into a raving lunatic at the mention of her stepdaughter, but she just pursed her lips and looked concerned. "All right. Go on up to the study and I'll bring you some food." She smiled at Percy. "Nice meeting you, Percy. I've heard a lot about you."

Upstairs, we walked into Dr. Chase's study and I said, "Whoa!"

The room was wall-to-wall books, but what really caught my attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight.

Dr. Chase smiled. "Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for."

He plucked a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.

"Oh, right," Percy said.

Zoe came over and studied the battlefield. "The German lines were farther from the river."

Dr. Chase stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"I was there," she said matter-of-factly. "Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste."

Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock. "You—"

"She's a Hunter, sir, and the two younger kids are her mistresses godchildren," Thalia said. "But that's not why we're here. We need—"

"You saw the Sopwith Camels?" Dr. Chase said. "How many were there? What formations did they fly?"

"Sir," Thalia broke in again. "Annabeth is in danger."

That got his attention. He set the biplane down.

"Of course," he said. "Tell me everything."

It wasn't easy, but we tried. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading outside. We were running out of time.

When we'd finished, Dr. Chase collapsed in his leather recliner. He laced his hands. "My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry."

"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais," Zoe said. "And we need it immediately."

"I'll drive you. Hmm. it would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two."

"Whoa, you have an actual biplane?" I said.

"Down at Crissy Field," Dr. Chase said proudly. "That's the reason I had to move here. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel—"

"Sir," Thalia said. "Just a car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous." .

Dr. Chase frowned uncomfortably. "Now wait a minute, young lady. Annabeth is my daughter. Dangerous or not, I… I can't just—"

"Snacks," Mrs. Chase announced. She pushed through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey. Thalia and Percy inhaled a few cookies, Bianca and I thank her and eat a peanut butter sandwhich each, while Zoe said, "I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car."

Mrs. Chase knit her eyebrows. "What's this about?"

"Annabeth is in danger," Dr. Chase said. "On Mount Tam. I would drive them, but… apparently it's no place for mortals."

It sounded like it was really hard for him to get that last part out.

I waited for Mrs. Chase to say no. I mean, what mortal parent would allow three underage teenagers to borrow their car? To my surprise, Mrs. Chase nodded. "Then they'd better get going."

"Right!" Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets. "My keys…"

His wife sighed. "Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door."

"Right!" Dr. Chase said.

Zoe grabbed a sandwich. "Thank you both. We should go. Now"

We hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind us.

"Percy," Mrs. Chase called as we were leaving, "tell Annabeth… Tell her she still has a home here, will you? Remind her of that."

I took one last look at the messy living room, Annabeth's half brothers spilling LEGOs and arguing, the smell of cookies filling the air. Not a bad place, I thought.

"I'll tell her," he promised.

We ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. The sun was going down. I figured we had less than an hour to save Annabeth.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded. Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic."

"You both sound like my mother," Percy said. "Shut up!" they said in unison.

Zoe weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.

The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.

"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" Percy asked.

"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around us.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"

"Believe me," Zoe said, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."

We didn't question her, but I did keep my eyes peeled more closely as we drove. Ahead of us loomed Mount Tamalpais. I guess, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as we were driving toward it.

"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" Percy asked.

"Yes," Zoe said tightly.

"Why do they call it that?"

She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"The General," I said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoe didn't answer. I got the feeing she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.

"We have to concentrate," Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" I asked.

"Both."

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and we kept driving straight toward them. We were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.

I happened to glance down at the ocean as we passed a scenic curve, and I saw something that made me jump out of my seat.

"Look!" But we turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.

"What?" Thalia asked.

"A big white ship," I said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"

I wanted to say I didn't know what she meant but I guess she noticed my confused look and dropped it.

"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."

I was about to answer, when suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Thalia shouted, "Stop the car. NOW!"

Zoe must've sensed something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

"Out!" Thalia opened the door and pushed me hard. We both rolled onto the pavement. The next second: BOOOM!

Lightning flashed, and Dr. Chase's Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. I probably would've been killed by shrapnel except for Thalia's shield, which appeared over me. I heard a sound like metal ram, and when I opened my eyes, we were surrounded by wreckage. Part of the VW's fender had impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road.

I smile at Thalia and say,"Thanks."

She smiles at me beautifully and I blush and look away.

"Wait," I said. "Where's Zoe? Zoe!"

We both got up and ran around the blasted VW. Nothing inside. Nothing either direction down the road. I looked down the cliff. No sign of her.

"Zoe!" I shouted.

Then she was standing right next to me, pulling me by my arm. "Theseus quiet! Do you want to wake Ladon?"

"You mean we're here?"

"Very close," she said. "Follow me."

Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Thalia and Percy looked at each other Bianca and I follow closely behind Zoe.

"Concentrate on Zoe," Thalia advised Percy. "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."

"Wait, Thalia. About what happened back on the pier… I mean, with the manticore and the sacrifice—"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You wouldn't actually have… you know?"

She hesitated. "I was just shocked. That's all."

"Zeus didn't send that lighting bolt at the car. It was Kronos. He's trying to manipulate you, make you angry at your dad."

She took a deep breath. "Percy, I know you're trying to make me feel better. Thanks. But come on. We need to go."

She stepped into the fog, into the Mist, and Percy followed.

When the fog cleared, we were still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a bloodred slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like I'd seen in my dream.

If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples, and I don't mean yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. I mean real golden apples. I can't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted.

"The apples of immortality," Thalia said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."

I wanted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled around the tree.

Now, I don't know what you think of when I say dragon. Whatever it is, it's not scary enough. The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.

Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for Chaos, but Zoe stopped my hand.

Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but I'd never realized how beautiful Zoe was until I saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoe—gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.

"Sisters," Zoe said.

"We do not see any sister," one of the girls said coldly. "We see two half-bloods, a Hunter, and two children of the underworld. All of whom shall soon die."

"You've got it wrong." I stepped forward. "Nobody is going to die."

The girls studied me. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.

"Theseus Di Angelo," one of them said.

"Yes," mused another. "I do not see why he is a threat."

"Who said I was a threat?"

The first Hesperid glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain. "They fear thee. They are unhappy that this one has not yet killed thee."

She pointed at Thalia.

"Tempting sometimes," Thalia admitted. "But no, thanks. He's my friend."

"There are no friends here, daughter of Zeus," the girl said. "Only enemies. Go back."

"Not without Annabeth," Thalia said.

"And Artemis," Zoe said. "We must approach the mountain."

"You know he will kill thee," the girl said. "You are no match for him."

"Artemis must be freed," Zoe insisted. "Let us pass."

The girl shook her head. "You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake."

"He will not hurt me," Zoe said.

"No? And what about thy so-called friends?"

Then Zoe did the last thing I expected. She shouted, "Ladon! Wake!"

The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered. The lead girl said to Zoe, "Are you mad?"

"You never had any courage, sister," Zoe said. "That is thy problem."

The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoe took a step forward, her arms raised.

"Zoe, don't," Thalia said. "You're not a Hesperid anymore. He'll kill you."

"Ladon is trained to protect the tree," Zoe said. "Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore thee."

"Should," I said. "Not exactly reassuring."

"It is the only way," she said. "Even the five of us together cannot fight him."

Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down my back, and that was before his breath hit me. The smell was like acid. It made my eyes burn, my skin crawl, and my hair stand on end.

I wanted to draw my sword. But then I remembered my dream of Zoe and Hercules, and how Hercules had failed in a head-on assault. I wanted to trust Zoe's judgment,but my instincts made me step forward and pet one of the dragon's heads.

The Hesperides look at me shocked as the dragon licks me and I say,"Good boy, good boy, we're not here for the apples, so let us pass keep the Hesperides away please."

The dragon turns to the Hesperides and we all walk up to the top of the mountain.

At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.

"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."

"What's Mount Othrys?" I asked, feeling like a fool as usual.

"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Zoe said. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was blasted to pieces." She winced and held her side.

"But… how is it here?"

Thalia looked around cautiously as we picked our way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."

"Why?"

"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said. "Where he holds—" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."

We had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. This is what I had seen in my dream. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the roof of the world.

"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. I had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

A booming voice spoke behind us: "Ah, how touching."

We turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

Percy met her eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending him, though: RUN.

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

* * *

**Theseus can tame Ladon how cool is that?**


	13. Winter solstice

ch.12 The winter solstice

Thalia spat at him.

The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Wait a second," I said. "You're Atlas?"

The General glanced at me. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoe" I said. "I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter." Percy frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

The horrible thing was: I could see the family resemblance. Atlas had the same regal expression as Zoe, the same cold proud look in his eyes that Zoe sometimes got when she was mad, though on him it looked a thousand times more evil.

"Let Artemis go," Zoe demanded.

Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

Artemis attacks with great speed , I put away my knives and pull out Chaos and jump backinto the fight.

I quickly make a slash to Atlas' chest and he smiles evilly before making a powerful punch to my chest sending me to the edge of the stairs, in seconds I see a sword at my throat, I look up to see Luke he says,"Stop or he dies Thalia."

Thalia looks at me and Luke says,"Join me Thalia and he can survive this war in safety, Artemis has taken his place in fighting Atlas but Atlas will win and he will join us, give up and when this war is over you may see him again."

I look at Artemis to see Atlas advancing, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leaped over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him back toward Percy.

"You fight well for a girl." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me."

He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. I saw the trick coming. Atlas's javelin swept around and knocked Artemis's legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.

"No!" I screamed. I knocked Luke's sword away and I leaped between Atlas and my godmother and stabbed Chaos straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept me aside with the back of his hand, sending me flying into the black rocks.

Zoe runs over to check on me. Then Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph in his face. Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn't get up.

"The first blood in a new war," Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward.

As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed his javelin shaft. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backward, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her, I saw him coming down on top of Percy and I realized what would happen. Percy loosened his grip on the sky, and as Atlas slammed into him, he didn't try to hold on.

The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas's back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.

"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"

Atlas was trapped under his old burden.

I tried to stand and fell back again, dazed from pain. My body felt like it was burning up.

Thalia backed Luke to the edge of a cliff, but still they fought on, next to the golden coffin. Thalia had tears in her eyes. Luke had a bloody slash across his chest and his pale face glistened with sweat.

He lunged at Thalia and she slammed him with her shield. Luke's sword spun out of his hands and clattered to the rocks. Thalia put her spear point to his throat.

For a moment, there was silence.

"Well?" Luke asked. He tried to hide it, but I could hear fear in his voice.

Thalia trembled with fury.

Behind her, Annabeth came scrambling, finally free from her bonds. Her face was bruised and streaked with dirt. "Don't kill him!"

"He's a traitor," Thalia said. "A traitor!"

In my daze, I realized that Artemis was beside me.

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He… he'll be useful."

"Is that what you want, Thalia?" Luke sneered. "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?"

Thalia hesitated, and Luke made a desperate grab for her spear.

"No!" Annabeth shouted. But it was too late. Without thinking, Thalia kicked Luke away. He lost his balance, terror on his face, and then he fell.

"Luke!" Annabeth screamed.

We rushed to the cliff's edge. Below us, the army from the Princess Andromeda had stopped in amazement. They were staring at Luke's broken form on the rocks.

One of the giants looked up and growled, "Kill them!"

Thalia was stiff with grief, tears streaming down her cheeks. Percy pulled her back as a wave of javelins sailed over their heads. They ran for the rocks, ignoring the curses and threats of Atlas as they passed.

"Artemis!" I whispered. "Zoe was supposed to die by Atlas but i got in the way instead."

The goddess looked at me, tears streaming down her face almost as grief-stricken as Thalia's. Zoe looked at me in the goddess's arms. She was breathing heavily. Her eyes were full of sadness and Bianca was starring at the wound too shocked to do anything. But still…

"The wound is deadly but his powers are healing it slowly he'll die of bloodloss soon," Artemis said.

"Is there anything we can do?" Thalia asked.

"maybe," the goddess said. "Zoe do you think a bit of my blood would heal him with greater speed?"

"Yes," Zoe murmured. "it would take about 5 drops at max."

Artemis cuts her arm and holds it over my wound.

Just as the army of monsters came over the hill, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky.

"Get away from my daughter!" Dr. Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.

"Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

"Run!" he called back, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by.

This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe.

"A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come, We must get Zoe away from here."

Soon Artemis finishes and the wound closes,I get up shakingly and Artemis says,"I hereby adopt you by blood Theseus Di Angelo, son of Hades and Artemis."

She summons a mirror and shows me my now auburn hair with black tips and silver eyes.

The Sopwith Camel swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. I realized with amazement that somehow Dr. Chase must've gotten hold of celestial bronze to fashion his bullets. The first row of snake women wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into sulfurous yellow powder.

"That's… my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement.

We didn't have time to admire his flying. The giants and snake women were already recovering from their surprise. Dr. Chase would be in trouble soon.

Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by the most beautiful deer I had ever seen. It landed right next to us.

"Get in," Artemis said.

Zoe helped me get on board. Then Thalia, Artemis, and Zoe moved Bianca on and climbed on. Artemis pulled the reins and the chariot sped away from the mountain, straight into the air.

"Like Santa Claus's sleigh," Percy murmured.

Artemis took time to look back at Percy. "Indeed, young half-blood. And where do you think that legend came from?"

Seeing us safely away, Dr. Chase turned his biplane and followed us like an honor guard. It must have been one of the strangest sights ever, even for the Bay Area: a silver flying chariot pulled by deer, escorted by a Sopwith Camel.

Behind us, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.

We landed at Crissy Field after nightfall.

As soon as Dr. Chase stepped out of his Sopwith Camel, Annabeth ran to him and gave him a huge hug. "Dad! You flew… you shot… oh my gods! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

Her father blushed. "Well, not bad for a middle-aged mortal, I suppose."

"But the celestial bronze bullets! How did you get those?"

"Ah, well. You did leave quite a few half-blood weapons in your room in Virginia, the last time you… left."

Annabeth looked down, embarrassed. I noticed Dr. Chase was very careful not to say ran away.

"I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings," he continued. "Just a little experiment."

He said it like it was no big deal, but he had a gleam in his eye. I could understand all of a sudden why Athena, Goddess of Crafts and Wisdom, had taken a liking to him. He was an excellent mad scientist at heart.

"Dad…" Annabeth faltered.

Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoe! I forbid you."

Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers.

"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."

I look at Artemis and say,"Atlas, I challenge you, I win you take back the sky, you win and I join Kronos and we both swear to the terms on the river styx."

He looks thoughtful for a second and says,"I swear on the styx to your terms"

I say,"I swear on the styx to the terms I have set."

"I don't understand," Percy said. "Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?"

Atlas laughed. "How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape." Atlas smiled. "Unless someone else takes it from you."

He approached us, getting into a fighting stance.

"Percy and Thalia get Luke," I said. "And Zoe try and help Artemis."

They nod

Atlas's eyes glowed with hatred when he sees the look of sisterly love she gives me.

I draw the hunting knives Zoe gave me and I jump at Atlas, blackfire rising around me in unconscious anger, creating silvery-black wings of black-fire propelling me further at speeds too fast for the others to see.

Atlas summons a javelin and his suit melted into full Greek battle armor and he slashes the javelin's blade at be at me I block with both knives and hold them in one hand and deliver a black-fire covered left hook. and then I jump into the air the black-fire wings flapping in a mostly solid form sending me into the air and I skydive toward the titan.I move to slice an X at him and he moves into a position to block not expecting Artemis to stab his left knee .

He whirls around to attack her when I slash an X into his back the black-fire covering the wounds.

Atlas advanced, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leaped over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him back toward Percy.

"You fight well for a girl." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me."

He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. I saw the trick coming. Atlas's javelin swept around and knocked Artemis's legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.

"No!" I screamed. I leaped between Atlas and Artemis and stabbed Chaos straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept me aside with the back of his hand, sending me flying into the black rocks.

Artemis ran up and looks at Zoe and they have an exchange of worrds but with my on the edge of consciousness I couldn't hear it and she holds herr arm above me before cutting herself and five drips of blood into my wound befoe I could hear and move agian.

"I hereby adopt you by blood Theseus Di angelo son of Hades and Artemis ," Artemis said.

Just as the army of monsters came over the hill, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky.

"Get away from my daughter!" Dr. Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.

"Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

"Run!" he called back, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by.

This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe.

"A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come, We must get away from here."

She raised her hunting horn to her lips, and its clear sound echoed down the valleys of Marin.

The Sopwith Camel swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. I realized with amazement that somehow Dr. Chase must've gotten hold of celestial bronze to fashion his bullets. The first row of snake women wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into sulfurous yellow powder.

"That's… my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement.

We didn't have time to admire his flying. The giants and snake women were already recovering from their surprise. Dr. Chase would be in trouble soon.

Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by the most beautiful deer I had ever seen. It landed right next to us.

"Get in," Artemis said.

Annabeth, Bianca, and Zoe helped me get on board shakingly. Then Thalia go on with Artemis.

"Like Santa Claus's sleigh," Percy murmured.

Artemis took time to look back at him. "Indeed, young half-blood. And where do you think that legend came from?"

Seeing us safely away, Dr. Chase turned his biplane and followed us like an honor guard. It must have been one of the strangest sights ever, even for the Bay Area: a silver flying chariot pulled by deer, escorted by a Sopwith Camel.

Behind us, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.

We landed at Crissy Field after nightfall.

As soon as Dr. Chase stepped out of his Sopwith Camel, Annabeth ran to him and gave him a huge hug. "Dad! You flew… you shot… oh my gods! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

Her father blushed. "Well, not bad for a middle-aged mortal, I suppose."

"But the celestial bronze bullets! How did you get those?"

"Ah, well. You did leave quite a few half-blood weapons in your room in Virginia, the last time you… left."

Annabeth looked down, embarrassed. I noticed Dr. Chase was very careful not to say ran away.

"I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings," he continued. "Just a little experiment."

He said it like it was no big deal, but he had a gleam in his eye. I could understand all of a sudden why Athena, Goddess of Crafts and Wisdom, had taken a liking to him. He was an excellent mad scientist at heart.

"Dad…" Annabeth faltered.

"I must go to Olympus immediately," Artemis said. "I will not be able to take any of you except Theseus who i want to keep an eye on, but I will send help."

The goddess set her hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "You are brave beyond measure, my girl. You will do what is right."

Then she looked quizzically at Thalia, as if she weren't sure what to make of this younger daughter of Zeus. Thalia seemed reluctant to look up, but something made her, and she held the goddess's eyes. I wasn't sure what passed between them, but Artemis's gaze softened with sympathy. Then she turned to Percy.

"You did well," she said. "For a man."

We mounted her chariot, which began to glow. The others averted their eyes and I closed mine as we flashed away. we appear right outside what I guess is the throne room and she leads me in and Zeus asks,"Artemis why did you bring the boy here?"

She says,"Father, he almost died saving me and Zoe from terrable fates and I adopted him by blood so that the wound healed quickly enough to stop bloodloss, I brought him to keep and eye on him to make sure he is healed."

He nods and I bow to Zeus then Artemis and then my dad in his temporary throne before seating myself in front of Artemis' throne at her insistance.

After an hour the doors open to reveal the other quest members.

"Welcome, heroes," Artemis said.

"Mooo!"

That's when I noticed Bessie and Grover.

A sphere of water was hovering in the center of the room, next to the hearth fire. Bessie was swimming happily around, swishing his serpent tail and poking his head out the sides and bottom of the sphere. He seemed to be enjoying the novelty of swimming in a magic bubble. Grover was kneeling at Zeus's throne, as if he'd just been giving a report, but when he the others he cried, "You made it!"

He started to run toward me, then remembered he was turning his back on Zeus, and looked for permission.

"Go on," Zeus said. But he wasn't really paying attention to Grover. The lord of the sky was staring intently at Thalia.

Grover trotted over. None of the gods spoke. Every clop of Grover's hooves echoed on the marble floor. Bessie splashed in his bubble of water. The hearth fire crackled.

Percy looked nervously at his father, Poseidon. He was dressed similar to a surfer: beach shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and sandals. He had a weathered, suntanned face with a dark beard and deep green eyes. I wasn't sure how he would feel about seeing me again, but the corners of his eyes crinkled with smile lines. He nodded as if to say It's okay.

Grover gave Annabeth and Thalia big hugs. Then he grasped Percy's arms. "Percy, Bessie and I made it! But you have to convince them! They can't do it!"

"Do what?" Percy asked.

"Heroes," Artemis called.

The goddess slid down from her throne and turned to human size, a young auburn-haired girl, perfectly at ease in the midst of the giant Olympians. She walked toward them, her silver robes shimmering. There was no emotion in her face. She seemed to walk in a column of moonlight.

"The Council has been informed of your deeds," Artemis told us. "They know that Mount Othrys is rising in the West. They know of Atlas's attempt for freedom, and the gathering armies of Kronos. We have voted to act."

There was some mumbling and shuffling among the gods, as if they weren't all happy with this plan, but nobody protested.

"At my Lord Zeus's command," Artemis said, "my brother Apollo and I shall hunt the most powerful monsters, seeking to strike them down before they can join the Titans' cause. Lady Athena shall personally check on the other Titans to make sure they do not escape their various prisons. Lord Poseidon has been given permission to unleash his full fury on the cruise ship Princess Andromeda and send it to the bottom of the sea. And as for you, my heroes…"

She turned to face the other immortals. "These half-bloods have done Olympus a great service. Would any here deny that?"

She looked around at the assembled gods, meeting their faces individually. Zeus in his dark pin-striped suit, his black beard neatly trimmed, and his eyes sparking with energy. Next to him sat a beautiful woman with silver hair braided over one shoulder and a dress that shimmered colors like peacock feathers. The Lady Hera.

On Zeus's right, Percy's father Poseidon. Next to him, a huge lump of a man with a leg in a steel brace, a misshapen head, and a wild brown beard, fire flickering through his whiskers. The Lord of the Forges, Hephaestus.

Hermes winked at Percy. He was wearing a business suit today, checking messages on his caduceus mobile phone. Apollo leaned back in his golden throne with his shades on. He had iPod headphones on, so I wasn't sure he was even listening, but he gave me, Bianca, and Percy a thumbs-up. Dionysus looked bored, twirling a grape vine between his fingers. And Ares, well, he sat on his chrome-and-leather throne, glowering at Percy while he sharpened a knife.

On the ladies' side of the throne room, a dark-haired goddess in green robes sat next to Hera on a throne woven of apple-tree branches. Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest. Next to her sat a beautiful gray-eyed woman in an elegant white dress. She could only be Annabeth's mother, Athena. Then there was Aphrodite, who smiled at Percy knowingly and made him blush.

All the Olympians in one place. So much power in this room it was a miracle the whole palace didn't blow apart.

"I gotta say"—Apollo broke the silence—"these kids did okay." He cleared his throat and began to recite: "Heroes win laurels—"

"Um, yes, first class," Hermes interrupted, like he was anxious to avoid Apollo's poetry. "All in favor of not disintegrating them?"

A few tentative hands went up—Demeter, Aphrodite.

"Wait just a minute," Ares growled. He pointed at Thalia, Percy, Bianca, and me. "These four are dangerous. It'd be much safer, while we've got them here—"

"Ares," Poseidon interrupted, "they are worthy heroes. We will not blast my son to bits."

"Nor my daughter," Zeus grumbled. "She has done well."

Hades and Artemis both say,"Niether will my children."

Thalia blushed. She studied the floor. I knew how she felt. I'd hardly ever talked to my father, much less gotten a compliment, I looked at my parents gratefully.

The goddess Athena cleared her throat and sat forward. "I am proud of my daughter as well and the Hades children are loyal to Artemis and have shown a liking to other gods (she looks at me) and their children. But there is a security risk here with the other two, only loyal to one god in the son of Poseidon's case and my sister here is not loyal to anyone but her friends and hasn't ever heard your voice before today."

"Mother!" Annabeth said. "How can you—"

Athena cut her off with a calm but firm look. "It is unfortunate that my father, Zeus, and my uncle, Poseidon, chose to break their oath not to have more children. Only Hades kept his word, a fact that I find ironic as my sister has told me the children of Hades were born in the 1940s and were kept in the lair of the Lotus eaters. As we know from the Great Prophecy, children of the three elder gods… such as Thalia, Theseus, Bianca, and Percy… are dangerous. As thick-headed as he is, Ares has a point."

"Right!" Ares said. "Hey, wait a minute. Who you callin'—"

He started to get up, but a grape vine grew around his waist like a seat belt and pulled him back down.

"Oh, please, Ares," Dionysus sighed. "Save the fighting for later."

Ares cursed and ripped away the vine. "You're one to talk, you old drunk. You seriously want to protect these brats?"

Dionysus gazed down at us wearily. "I have no love for them. Athena, do you truly think it safest to destroy them?"

"I do not pass judgment," Athena said. "I only point out the risk. What we do, the Council must decide."

"I will not have them punished," Artemis said. "I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it."

"Calm down, sis," Apollo said. "Jeez, you need to lighten up."

"Don't call me sis! I will reward them."

"Well," Zeus grumbled. "Perhaps. But the monster at least must be destroyed. We have agreement on that?"

A lot of nodding heads.

It took Percy a second to realize what they were saying."Bessie? You want to destroy Bessie?"

"Mooooooo!" Bessie protested.

Percy's father frowned. "You have named the Ophiotaurus Bessie?"

"Dad," Percy said, "he's just a sea creature. A really nice sea creature. You can't destroy him."

Poseidon shifted uncomfortably. "Percy, the monster's power is considerable. If the Titans were to steal it, or—"

"You can't," he insisted. He looked at Zeus. He probably should have been afraid of him, but he stared him right in the eye, anyway. "Controlling the prophecies never works. Isn't that true? Besides, Bess—the Ophiotaurus is innocent. Killing something like that is wrong. It's just as wrong as… as Kronos eating his children, just because of something they might do. It's wrong!"

Zeus seemed to consider this. His eyes drifted to his daughter Thalia. "And what of the risk? Kronos knows full well, if one of you were to sacrifice the beast's entrails, you would have the power to destroy us. Do you think we can let that possibility remain? You, my daughter, will turn sixteen on the morrow, just as the prophecy says."

"You have to trust them," Annabeth spoke up. "Sir, you have to trust them."

Zeus scowled. "Trust a hero?"

"Annabeth is right," Artemis said. "Which is why I must first make a reward."

There is a flash of green and we look to see three old ladies the first one says,"Theseus Di Angelo, we have taken into account what you have done in changing fate, your twin was to die in the land without rain but instead you were lost in Morpheus' realm for most of the quest and Zoe Nightshade was to die at the hands of Atlas, it seems we, the fates, don't even have control over your fate but we know the child of the prophecy is a demigod with the fatal flaw of loyalty thanks to your messing with fate and the only children of the big three with the fatal flaw of loyalty is you and the children of Poseidon, Artemis you must choose a different lieutenant because you're current one is not going to be able to handle what is to come."

I get angry and a circle of black-fire appears around me.

I yell,"Wait one second you're telling me you were going to kill my sister, I don't care who you are no one messes with my sister, you hear me, no one!"

The gods all look at me with traces of fear in their eyes, even my father and the fates Artemis says,"Theseus look at your eyes."

She summons a silver mirrior and show me my eyes and I see they are literally black-fire. I look at the fates and say,"If my sister dies from this war I will personally beat you until you can't see."

Hades asks,"If you don't have control of his fate who does?"

The middle fate says,"He controls his own fate it seems his mother was gifted by some being with power over her fate and she gave it up to give it to Theseus."

The gods watch as the fates disappear and continue the meeting.

Artemis says,"Bianca,my sweet god-daughter, would you like to be my lieutenant."

She knelt before the goddess and began the oath "I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men…"

Afterward, she did something that surprised me almost as much as the pledge. She went over to Percy, smiled, and in front of the whole assembly, she gave him a big hug.

He blushed.

When she pulled away and gripped his shoulders, He said, "Um… aren't you supposed to not do that anymore? Hug boys, I mean?"

"I'm honoring a friend," she corrected. "I must join the Hunt, Percy. I haven't known peace since… since the Lotus Casino. I finally feel like I have a home. But you're a hero. You will be the one of the prophecy."

"Great," he muttered.

"I'm proud to be your friend."

She hugged Annabeth, who was trying hard not to cry and Thalia who was smiling. Then she even hugged Grover, who looked ready to pass out, like somebody had just given him an all-you-can-eat enchilada coupon.

Then Bianca went to stand by me and Artemis's side.

"Now for the Ophiotaurus," Artemis said.

"This boy is still dangerous," Dionysus warned. "The beast is a temptation to great power. Even if we spare the boy—"

"No." Percy looked around at all the gods. "Please. Keep the Ophiotaurus safe. My dad can hide him under the sea somewhere, or keep him in an aquarium here in Olympus. But you have to protect him."

"And why should we trust you?" rumbled Hephaestus.

"I'm only fourteen," he said. "If this prophecy is about me, that's two more years."

"Two years for Kronos to deceive you," Athena said. "Much can change in two years, my young hero."

"Mother!" Annabeth said, exasperated.

"It is only the truth, child. It is bad strategy to keep the animal alive. Or the boy."

Percy's father stood. "I will not have a sea creature destroyed, if I can help it. And I can help it."

He held out his hand, and a trident appeared in it: a twenty foot long bronze shaft with three spear tips that shimmered with blue, watery light. "I will vouch for the boy and the safety of the Ophiotaurus."

"You won't take it under the sea!" Zeus stood suddenly. "I won't have that kind of bargaining chip in your possession."

"Brother, please," Poseidon sighed.

Zeus's lightning bolt appeared in his hand, a shaft of electricity that filled the whole room with the smell of ozone.

I say,"Zeus if I may, you could have someone keep an eye on Poseidon, you're daughter Hebe perhaps she is very close to you as the myths state she is completely loyal to you and Hera."

Zeus says,"Fine we will alternate the creature it fixes the problem and will be harder for Kronos to get his hands on it."

"Fine," Poseidon said. "I will build an aquarium for the creature here. Hephaestus can help me. The creature will be safe. We shall protect it with all our powers. The boy will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor."

Zeus thought about this. "All in favor?"

To my surprise, a lot of hands went up. Dionysus abstained. So did Ares and Athena. But everybody else…

"We have a majority," Zeus decreed. "And so, since we will not be destroying these heroes… I imagine we should honor them. Let the triumph celebration begin!"

There are parties, and then there are huge, major, blowout parties. And then there are Olympian parties. If you ever get a choice, go for the Olympian.


	14. Titan's curse end

ch 13 Titan's curse end

The Nine Muses cranked up the tunes, and I realized the music was whatever you wanted it to be: the gods could listen to classical and the younger demigods heard hip-hop or whatever, and it was all the same sound track. No arguments. No fights to change the radio station. Just requests to crank it up.

Dionysus went around growing refreshment stands out of the ground, and a beautiful woman walked with him arm in arm—his wife, Ariadne. Dionysus looked happy for the first time. Nectar and ambrosia overflowed from golden fountains, and platters of mortal snack food crowded the banquet tables. Golden goblets filled with whatever drink you wanted. Grover trotted around with a full plate of tin cans and enchiladas, and his goblet was full of double-espresso latte, which he kept muttering over like an incantation: "Pan! Pan!"

Gods kept coming over to congratulate the quest members. Thankfully, they had reduced themselves to human size, so they didn't accidentally trample partygoers under their feet. Hermes started chatting with Percy and I said a hi to Apollo and walk around.

Apollo told me I could drive his sun chariot any time, and if I ever wanted archery lessons—

"Thanks," I told him. "But seriously, I don't need lessons I'm pretty good at archery."

"Ah, nonsense," he said. "Target practice from the chariot as we fly over the U.S.? Best fun there is!"

I made some excuses and wove through the crowds that were dancing in the palace courtyards. I was looking for Thalia. Last I saw her, she'd been dancing with some minor godling.

Then a woman's voice behind me said, " You'll keep the hunters out of trouble at camp until me and Apollo are done hunting, I hope."

I turned and found my mother smiling at me.

"I will mom." I promised.

"Theseus, you've done well."

I smile at the praise.

She nodded. I had trouble reading gods' emotions, but I knew she was happy I promised to help the hunters.

"Your girlfriend Thalia—"

"She's not my friend," I blurted out.

She giggles , "Sorry, anyway she is coming too , she wants to get to know you and Bianca, we leave after the party."

She walks off looking for Bianca

I was about to keep searching the crowd when another voice spoke. "Your father and my sister are taking a great risk, you know."

I found myself face-to-face with a gray-eyed woman who looked so much like Annabeth I almost called her that.

"Athena." I tried not to sound resentful, after the way she'd written me off in the council, but I guess I didn't hide it very well.

She smiled dryly. "Do not judge me too harshly, half-blood. Wise counsel is not always popular, but I spoke the truth. You are dangerous."

"You never take risks?"

She nodded. "I concede the point. You may perhaps be useful. And yet… your fatal flaw may destroy us as well as yourself."

My heart crept into my throat.

Athena looked almost sorry for me. "Kronos knows your flaw. He knows how to study his enemies.

"I hope the Council's decisions prove wise," Athena said. "but I do not approve of your friendship with my demigod sister, nephew. I do not think it wise for either of you. And should you begin to waver in your loyalties…"

She fixed me with her cold gray stare, and I realized what a terrible enemy Athena would make, ten times worse than Ares or Dionysus or maybe even my father. Athena would never give up. She would never do something rash or stupid just because she hated you, and if she made a plan to destroy you, it would not fail.

"Thece!" Thalia said, running through the crowd. She stopped short when she saw who I was talking to. "Oh… Athena."

"I will leave you," Athena said. "For now."

She turned and strode through the crowds, which parted before her as if she were carrying Aegis.

"Was she giving you a hard time?" Thalia asked.

"No," I said. "It's… fine."

She studied me with concern. She touched the newly auburn hair. There was a lot I'd wanted to say to Thalia, but Athena had taken the confidence out of me. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut.

I do not approve of your friendship with my demigod sister, nephew.

"So," she said. "What did you want to tell me earlier?"

The music was playing. People were dancing in the streets. I said, "I, uh, was thinking and I want to ask if you'd like to dance?"

She smiled slowly. "All right Moony."

I say,"Thanks Zaps."

So I took her hand, and I don't know what everybody else heard, but to me it sounded like a slow dance: a little sad, but maybe a little hopeful, too.

Before I left Olympus, I decided to make a few calls. It wasn't easy, but I finally found a quiet fountain in a corner garden and sent an Iris-message to Nico telling him to come to Olympus. I told him about our adventures, and Bessie—he wanted to hear every detail about the cute baby cow serpent—and I assured him that Artemis was safe. Finally I got around to explaining how I was made Artemis's adopted son.

"cool!" he said. "That means it was good! It saved your life!"

"It sure did, little guy," I said. "But now we're going to help the hunt while they're staying at camp."

"On my way!" Nico promised.

I say"We will visit relax until the war starts."

The idea picked me up instantly. I guess I hadn't realized how much I missed beening around Nico again.

I dug out my last golden drachma and made one more Iris-message.

"Persephone," I said. "Hades' palace, the underworld."

The mist shimmered, and there was my step-mom at Hades kitchen table, laughing and talking to one of her servants.

I say,"Lady Persephone."

Her eyes got wide. She sent the servant away

"Hello, who are you?"

I say,"Theseus Di Angelo son of Hades and adopted son of Artemis, at your service milady."

She asks,"What do you want?"

I say,"Just wanting to meet my step-mother and the daughter of Demeter that everyone likes and say, you are as beautiful as described by the myths."

She smiles,"Thank you."

I say,"Milady I was wondering if you talk to my mother and tell her about what has happened?"

Persephone says,"Of course"

She waved her hand across the mist. Her image disappeared.

Compared to Mount Olympus, Manhattan was quiet. Friday before Christmas, but it was early in the morning, and hardly anyone was on Fifth Avenue. Argus, the many-eyed security chief, picked up Annabeth, Grover, Percy, Thalia, and me at the Empire State Building and ferried us back to camp through a light snowstorm. The Long Island Expressway was almost deserted.

As we trudged back up Half-Blood Hill to the pine tree where the Golden Fleece glittered, I half expected to see Nico there, waiting for us. But he wasn't. He was helping the rest of the Hunters, get to camp.

Chiron greeted us at the Big House with hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches. Grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about our strange encounter with the magic of Pan. Within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.

Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, and I sat with Chiron and some of the other senior campers—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers. Even Clarisse from the Ares cabin was there, back from her secretive scouting mission.

"I got news," she mumbled uneasily. "Bad news."

"I'll fill you in later," Chiron said with forced cheerfulness. "The important thing is you have prevailed. And you saved Annabeth!"

Annabeth smiled at us gratefully, which made Percy look away.

"Luke is alive," Percy said. "Annabeth was right."

Annabeth sat up. "How do you know?"

"Well." Annabeth shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "If the final battle does come when Percy is sixteen, at least we have two more years to figure something out."

I had a feeling that when she said "figure something out," she meant "get Luke to change his ways," which annoyed me even more.

Chiron's expression was gloomy. Sitting by the fire in his wheelchair, he looked really old. I mean… he was really old, but he usually didn't look it.

"Two years may seem like a long time," he said. "But it is the blink of an eye. I still hope you are not the child of the prophecy, Percy. But if you are, then the second Titan war is almost upon us. Kronos's first strike will be here."

"How do you know?" Percy asked. "Why would he care about camp?"

"Because the gods use heroes as their tools," I said simply. "Destroy the tools, and the gods will be crippled. Luke's forces will come here. Mortal, demigod, monstrous… We must be prepared. Clarisse's news may give us a clue as to how they will attack, but—"

There was a knock on the door, and Nico came huffing into the parlor, his cheeks bright red from the cold.

He was smiling, but he looked around anxiously. "Hey! the hunters are settled in."

We nod and I say,"Well guys I'm beat so I'm going to bed in my mom's cabin."

I run off to get some sleep.


	15. I kinda loose my father

ch.14 I kinda lose my father

I was called to Olympus from camp to get something from Artemis, my blood adoption mother, when I walk into the throne room Zeus says,"This meeting was called on behalf of Theseus Di Angelo son of Hades and adopted son of Artemis."

"Theseus it is a decision that was delayed by your mother but we have decided either your father gives all custody of you to Artemis or you have to leave camp and live in the underworld."

I look at my father and Zeus says,"Of course he can still talk to you in Iris messages and send visions but he won't be able to see you in person for 2 years until you're 14."

I say,"I wish to stay in the Artemis cabin but Nico and I need separate room, because, you know..."

I blush and the council nods Artemis laughs,"I forgot about that."

Hades nods and says,"I think Artemis will be a better parent than me, but I will send gifts to Theseus."

She waves her hand and says,"That fixes the problem."

Athena says,"Before we dismiss I have thought about something, Theseus is it true you can control black-fire?"

I nod,"With the hunters help I can hold a dome of black-fire around your thrones and that's the most I can summon at a moments notice but I can shield this room for a good hour."

Athena nods and says,"We all know_ the great prophecy, __A Half-Blood of the eldest gods_, _Shall reach sixteen against all odds, And see the world in endless sleep, The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap, a single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze, _I believe that it doesn't refer to the child of the big three to be the hero but to set the time when it happens and the hero might be on Kronos' side if my hypothesis is correct what is your son Luke's fatal flaw."

Hermes says,"At first his was the same as all my sons but when he was with Annabeth and Thalia his fatal flaw changed with his want to protect them but Kronos has twisted him and his fatal flaw is a bit less fatal."

She nods,"Then when Perseus turns sixteen against all odds is meaning through everything he has in the way that wants to kill him , the world in an endless sleep is a mystery to me, the heroes soul a cursed blade shall reap means a blade will kill Luke, a single choice... he chooses to get killed."

Everyone looks at Hermes,"I knew it was coming."

Athena says,"but there was something not factored power over black-fire, Theseus next you see the son of Hermes you are to kill him and use black-fire to destroy Kronos, understood."

I nod,"Yes milady."

She nods and Artemis smiles at me.

I say,"I must go."

I then concentrate a circle of black-fire in front of me and walk into it to appear in a black and silver room with a bed, bathroom, and closet i open the closet and it has a not on the door handle that reads,

_Dear Theseus_

_I left you a black jacket but the rest of your clothing will be silver or silver and black I hope it's okay there's also some weapons in the back_

_your mother, Artemis goddess of the moon _

I look around in the closet and grab my silver bow disguised as a necklace, silver hunting knives disguised as two bracelets, and Chaos which isn't disguised.

I pull on my black and silver windbreaker, silver pants, and silver Pillar T-shirt.

I walk out and see the hunters looking at me. I say,"Sisters."

They smile,"Yo let me through I want to talk to my twin."

I see the hunters part to reveal an angry Bianca,"I was waiting for you on half-blood hill and you appear here."

I say,"Sis mi dispiace."**(A/N:it's italian, look it up)**

She yells,"Mis dispiace non e tagliato."

I smile,"per quello che vale ti amo sis."

She smiles and says,"All is forgiven."

I walk out and run to the archery range I pull out my bow and say,"I wonder, Thalia is usually here right about now?"

"So the son of Hades is stalking my girl now?" says the voice of a son of Aphrodite hellbent on making Thalia his girlfriend named, Harold Love(ironic right?).

I tun and say,"I'm a son of Artemis and I happen to care about Thalia's happiness you lust brained idiot!"

I look to see we've drawn a crowd, Harold says,"Wow you found a worse parent, Moony."

I say,"I see you still have less brain cells than a rock."

The crowd snickers and Harold says,"I challenge you for the right to date Thalia."

I say,"I will not fight for Thalia like a prize, she is a person not a trophy I will fight to restore the honor of a maiden in honor of my mother, I will show that brains conquers love for Athena, I will do this for Zeus and how much he loves Thalia, and lastly I will do this for Thalia who deserves a guy that thinks of her as a person, I will win this battle to restore the honor you have taken by thinking of her as such."

I stomp over to the arena and Thalia walks up,"Thanks for all that stuff you said about me."

I say,"I'm only doing this for my mother, to help Athena deal with Aphrodite, show how much I respect you and your father, heck if it weren't for you I'd be dead, literally."

She laughs,"Still thanks."

She goes to sit in the stands, Annabeth comes over,"on behalf of the Athena cabin I thank you Thece and show Harold he's an idiot please."

I nod and then my sister comes over,"I think mom is proud, knock some hell into him for me."

I laugh at the joke and Harold walks in coated in armor I just pull out my hunting knives and throw Thalia Chaos and she catches it, I remember when she asked to look at it but I gold her I had to go mainly because it was curfew but she hadn't asked since.

I say,"Now Lust-for-brains, let's do this."

He holds his sword in front of him. I charge and slide behind him he turns and just blocks my slowest strike one of his sisters says,"Harold that was his slowest strike, he went faster fighting Silena and you say men are superior maybe it's true for sons of Hades but you are weak, kick his ass son of Artemis!"

I take a bow and slash at his legs at full speed the blur of silver and black that was my arm cut open his leg I say,"Give up and you might not go to the infirmary."

He asks,"might not?"

I say,"There's still the hunters wanting to kill you but you could get a head start now."

He grips his sword and yells,"Never!"

Slashing his sword downward I simply side step and slash his chest open I say,"Last chance after this no mercy."

He shouts,"I'll never surrender to the son of a lesbian goddess and the shit of the underworld."

I growl and yell,"Never insult my mother and father to my face or you will feel the wrath of Theseus Di Angelo controller of decay fire and prince of the hunt!"

The hunters nod in excitement at each word knowing my anger is dangerous Bianca immediately says,"Everyone run!"

I glare at Harold my eyes black-fire a huge ring of black-fire comes to life around the ground of the arena. I make Chaos appear in my hands Thalia jumps in shock and helps Bianca get everyone out I say,in a voice way deeper than normal,

"Harold, tsk, tsk, you have summoned anger from the bottom of my soul and now you'll feel half of it and camp will be destroyed because of you."

He looks at me pale I walk towards him Chaos making a grating sound against the ground black-fire covering the hilt making my grip stronger, I slash Chaos across his chest making his wound an X and behind him black-fire makes a huge slash and destroys the Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, Hera, Hermes, Dionysus, and Poseidon cabins I yell and smash Chaos' hilt into Harold's head knocking him out, I then run up to the lake before jumping into the air black-fire making wings on my back and for added speed, my shoes.

I fly off and land by Zeus' fist instantly putting my hand to it and touching it three time before it opens up and I run inside it closing behind me, this was made by Athena to vent out my frustration without damaging anything.

**Later**

**Thalia's POV(A/N:This will only happen when I want to show what others are thinking about the happenings, this will not happen all the time)**

I look around for Theseus and I hear,"I saw Theseus fly off with his black-fire wings."

Bianca runs up to me,"Thalia come with me!"

I follow the small daughter of Hades to Zeus' fist I look and ask,"Why are we here?"

she looks at me and makes a counting gesture...3...2...1...0.

The ground starts to rumble and I hear the big house collapse on the other side of camp. Bianca sits there waiting til is stops, when it stops she touches the center of the part in front of us three times and it opens to reveal a passage way, we walk down it and Bianca says,

"This was made by Athena, she knew the destructive power of Theseus' black-fire abilities and soon with the way his power is growing not even this will be able to hold it in, but Lady Artemis believes that you might be able to help him he seems to have a crush on you and you might be able to stop him before he destroys something and I tell you now if you break his heart you will burn in the fields of punishment."

I look at her and ask,"From what I heard of his many dates and they said he dumped them?"

She says,"Actually it's the other way around to not make you mad thinking you would be he decided to go on dates with girls he likes other than you but he doesn't love them like he loves you, but he didn't break up with them, when they found out he was just there to be nice they broke up with him because he tried dating that person but didn't feel love so he just decided to be a gentleman and wait for a while before he made a decision then he'd nicely tell them that he didn't feel love only friendship and they'd dump him."

I say,"But what is with this, he's only known he was a demigod for two years and he is stronger than Percy, how?"

Bianca says,"Theseus' power is completely open and the slightest anger sets it off, Percy's is closed his full power would be the exact same as Theseus but Percy his power is blocked off so that he doesn't create a natural disaster, black-fire is controllable and can only be put out by lightning,the controller or the controller's girlfriend distracting him, since he loves you and you have lightning power you are the perfect person for the job."

I nod and say,"To be honest I fell in love with his silver eyes."

Bianca smiles,"Then welcome to the family."

I smile and give the younger girl a looks into the room we just walked into and runs over to a lump in the dark and I notice it's Theseus and he appears safe, except for the fact that he's unconscious and sweat is beating down his says,

"Hurry to the infirmary, he's sick, possibly dying!"

We both pick him up and run outside the bunker Bianca says close in Italian and the door closes. We run through camp passing the hunters on their way to archery class when they see the state Theseus is in they run to follow us, we run into the infirmary and set Theseus down on a bed Will Solace looks at Theseus and yells,

"Chiron!It's happening!"

Bianca asks,"What's happening?"

Will says,"Theseus has used up 96% of his life force in anger, it's poisoned him! and right when the titans are using the labyrinth."

* * *

**I'm putting up a poll on wether to use another POV when Theseus is unconscious.**


	16. safe or bronekn that is the question

I will be doing a different POV when Theseus' is unable to be used.

* * *

ch.15 Save or broken that is the question.

**Thalia's POV**

I ask,"Will Iris message Apollo now!."

He nods and the cabin leader, Micheal Yew, walks up and starts keeping Theseus alive.

Seconds later Apollo flashes in with an angry Artemis yelling at him,"Where is the bitch that made my son so angry that only a few cabins stand everyone knows sons of Hades are quite a bit more than children of the other two, because of the power over the dead and the earth but Theseus is more powerful with his black-fire plus my own powers, who is stupid enough to cross him!"

I say,"Lady Artemis, this started when a son of Aphrodite was at the archery range and heard Theseus ask where I was since I was usually at the archery range at that time and the son of Aphrodite said,

"So the son of Hades is stalking my girl now?"

To which Theseus replied,"I'm a son of Artemis and I happen to care about Thalia's happiness you lust brained idiot"

The son of Aphrodite then said,"Wow you found a worse parent, Moony"

Then Theseus said, that the son of Aphrodite had less brain cells than a rock to which the son of Aphrodite challenged Theseus to a fight for the right to have me and Theseus said,

"I will not fight for Thalia like a prize, she is a person not a trophy I will fight to restore the honor of a maiden in honor of my mother, I will show that brains conquers love for Athena, I will do this for Zeus and how much he loves Thalia, and lastly I will do this for Thalia who deserves a guy that thinks of her as a person, I will win this battle to restore the honor you have taken by thinking of her as such."

After a while they fought and the son of Aphrodite said,"I'll never surrender to the son of a lesbian goddess and the shit of the underworld."

After that Theseus lost control when I saw his black-fire eyes they were just like on Olympus."

Artemis ponders this and says,"And after that?"

"Can you please come inside my mind and I'll do a flashback?" I ask

They look into my mind as I flashback to it.

**Flashback**

_I look around for Theseus and I hear,"I saw Theseus fly off with his black-fire wings."_

_Bianca runs up to me,"Thalia come with me!"_

_I follow the small daughter of Hades to Zeus' fist I look and ask,"Why are we here?"_

_she looks at me and makes a counting gesture...3...2...1...0._

_The ground starts to rumble and I hear the big house collapse on the other side of camp. Bianca sits there waiting til is stops, when it stops she touches the center of the part in front of us three times and it opens to reveal a passage way, we walk down it and Bianca says,_

_"This was made by Athena, she knew the destructive power of Theseus' black-fire abilities and soon with the way his power is growing not even this will be able to hold it in, but Lady Artemis believes that you might be able to help him he seems to have a crush on you and you might be able to stop him before he destroys something and I tell you now if you break his heart you will burn in the fields of punishment."_

_I look at her and ask,"From what I heard of his many dates and they said he dumped them?"_

_She says,"Actually it's the other way around to not make you mad thinking you would be he decided to go on dates with girls he likes other than you but he doesn't love them like he loves you, but he didn't break up with them, when they found out he was just there to be nice they broke up with him because he tried dating that person but didn't feel love so he just decided to be a gentleman and wait for a while before he made a decision then he'd nicely tell them that he didn't feel love only friendship and they'd dump him."_

_I say,"But what is with this, he's only known he was a demigod for two years and he is stronger than Percy, how?"_

_Bianca says,"Theseus' power is completely open and the slightest anger sets it off, Percy's is closed his full power would be the exact same as Theseus but Percy his power is blocked off so that he doesn't create a natural disaster, black-fire is controllable and can only be put out by lightning,the controller or the controller's girlfriend distracting him, since he loves you and you have lightning power you are the perfect person for the job."_

_I nod and say,"To be honest I fell in love with his silver eyes."_

_Bianca smiles,"Then welcome to the family."_

_I smile and give the younger girl a looks into the room we just walked into and runs over to a lump in the dark and I notice it's Theseus and he appears safe, except for the fact that he's unconscious and sweat is beating down his says,_

_"Hurry to the infirmary, he's sick, possibly dying!"_

_We both pick him up and run outside the bunker Bianca says close in Italian and the door closes. We run through camp passing the hunters on their way to archery class when they see the state Theseus is in they run to follow us, we run into the infirmary and set Theseus down on a bed Will Solace looks at Theseus and yells,_

_"Chiron!It's happening!"_

_Bianca asks,"What's happening?"_

_Will says,"Theseus has used up 96% of his life force in anger, it's poisoned him! and right when the titans are using the labyrinth."_

**Flashback end**

Artemis says,"Apollo hurry up and heal my son!"

While Apollo goes to do that Artemis says,"Thalia, I know how Theseus feels for you and you him so I give you my blessing to date my son."

I smile and say,"Thank you Lady Artemis."

Will Solace walks up and says,"Lady Artemis we need Perseus Jackson's water powers to finish healing Theseus we've almost gotten rid of the poison but if we don't get Percy soon the poison will kill him."

I nod and run off to grab Annabeth.

**Percy POV(A/N:Yes Sally is dead)**

I burst out of the alley onto East 81st and ran straight into Annabeth and Thalia.

"Hey, you're out early!" Annabeth said, grabbing my shoulders to keep me from tumbling into the street. "Watch where you're going, Seaweed Brain."

she looked to be scared, but Thalia was pale and kept muttering I caught the words,"Theseus.. in.. danger."

. Annabeth was wearing jeans and an orange camp T-shirt and her clay bead necklace. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her gray eyes were full of fear when looking at Thalia. Thalia was wearing her black jeans, black T-shirt, and black leather jacket but even with looking scary her eyes showed fear, sadness, and another emotion I couldn't identify.

Then Rachel Elizabeth Dare, still covered in monster dust, came charging out of the alley, yelling, "Percy, wait up!"

Annabeth looked at Rachel before saying,"Percy hurry up Theseus is poisoned and dying" .

She stared at Rachel, then at the school. For the first time, she seemed to notice the black smoke and ringing fire alarms.

She frowned at me. "What did you do this time? And who is this?"

"Oh, Rachel—Annabeth. Annabeth—Rachel. Um, she's a friend, I guess."

I wasn't sure what else to call Rachel. I mean, I barely knew her, but after being in two life-or-death situations together, I couldn't just call her nobody.

"Hi," Rachel said. Then she turned to me. "You are in so much trouble. And you still owe me an explanation!"

Police sirens wailed on FDR Drive.

"Percy," Annabeth said coldly. "We should go."

"I want to know more about half-bloods," Rachel insisted. "And monsters. And this stuff about the gods." She grabbed my arm, whipped out a permanent marker, and wrote a phone number on my hand. "You're going to call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going."

"But—"

"I'll make up some story," Rachel said. "I'll tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!"

She ran back toward the school, leaving Annabeth and me in the street.

"Hey!" I jogged after her. "There were these two empousai," I tried to explain. "They were cheerleaders, see, and they said camp was going to burn, and—"

"You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?"

"She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did."

"So you told her the truth?"

"She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so—"

"You've met her before?"

"Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her."

"She's kind of cute."

"I—I never thought about it."

Annabeth kept walking toward York Avenue.

"I'll deal with the school," I promised, anxious to change the subject. "Honest, it'll be fine."

Annabeth wouldn't even look at me. "Percy we need to hurry as you may have noticed Thalia isn't very talkative which isn't like her and I told you minutes ago that our friend, Theseus is poisoned and dying."

Behind us, smoke billowed up from Goode High School. In the dark column of ashes, I thought I could almost see a face—a she-demon with red eyes, laughing at me.

Your pretty little camp in flames, Kelli had said. Your friends made slaves to the Lord of Time, starting with Theseus and Bianca Di Angelo.

"You're right," I told Annabeth, my heart sinking. "We have to get to Camp Half-Blood. Now."

we had a tense Taxi ride to camp and when we reached the hill Thalia grabbed my hand and ran leaving Annabeth to pay for the taxi, as she pulled me to the infirmary while also spraining my arm.

When we ran in I looked at Theseus and see him unconscious and with sweat beating down his forehead, I'd seen this before it Theseus was in fact poisoned I ran up and Apollo says,

"Perseus Bianca grab my hands as I do this the powers of Hades and Poseidon will help heal him."

Artemis who I just notice was crying in the corner at the pain in her adopted son's face she says,"Br-brother He m-must b-be taken outside since his black-fire will start back when he starts heading towards consciousness you must take him to Fist Bunker."

Apollo nods and we carry Theseus to Zeus' fist Bianca taps it three times before it opens and we descend down a staircase to a huge room made of underworld obsidian we see a sign glowing the sign of a black helm.

Apollo says,"Hades is protecting us from black-fire there will be a major side affect though, I will lose my kidneys and I'll have to go home and heal and it will burn away the barriers holding back your full powers Bianca's power over the earth will be completely opened and Percy your water power will expand to blood, mist travel, and of course a trident will be made from your powers once they are unlocked and when it is you will need to keep it near you at all times."**(A/N:Notice how much stronger having a twin sister has made him.)**

Apollo chants and I feel my energy being drained,"θεραπεύσει αυτό το γιο του Άδη και να φέρει πίσω τη ζωή του, ξεκλειδώσετε τη δύναμή του από το μυαλό του και να απελευθερωθεί το."(cure this son of Hades and bring back his life, unlock the power of your mind and unleash it.)

I look as black-fire blazes around us and the fire laps against everything searing most of the non-protected things in the room and when the fire pulled back I look to see a column of it hiding Theseus before it went out and Theseus wobbles over and has Bianca help him walk as we head out I look around me for the trident Apollo spoke of then I felt Riptide become heavy as I see Hestia, my godmother.

I say,"Godmother."

She says,"Percy I am here to give you an upgrade to the trident your powers made it is now a coin that when it lands on heads becomes a sword, tails a trident it's name Tsunami, I also regret to inform you that your mother was killed by a drancnea on her way home from dropping you off.(A/N:This is important part of the plot and I for one like Sally but I have an idea for this.)."

I wanted to cry but couldn't I told everyone this and Hestia says,"I have locked your grief away until the final battle when you can use it to your full extent."

I nod and Hestia says,"I hereby adopt Perseus Jackson son of Poseidon and I wish to share the boy with his father for I have grown to love the hero before me."

I hear Theseus say,"Bianca take me to Thalia."

Hestia says,"Ah, yes a family in the making."

She flashes off and I walk towards the Artemis cabin to inform the hunters of Theseus' condition.

**Theseus POV(A/N:Back to the son of Artemis.)**

I lean against Bianca as Thalia comes into sight I say with my extremely quiet voice sore from the amount of power unleashed having made black-fire come out of my mouth which in fact hurt a lot,"Thalia."

Bianca being the helpful sister she is yells,"Thalia!"

She turns and sees me and runs over.

* * *

**See I have made sure of a few things, one Percy will still be able to use Hestia's powers, two Thalia will be with Theseus, and lastly Percy will be able to fight on par if not more with Kronos.**


	17. Peaceful healing, maybe?

ch.16 peaceful healing, maybe?

I smile and say,"Hello Thalia, as you can see I have some side effects but I'm on the way to full health."

She nods and says,"Well time to spend time with my new boyfriend."

she then kisses me and walks towards the lava wall.

I blink and say,"I could get used to this Bianca."

She smiles,"Don't almost die again or I'll kill you."

I nod,"Yes ma'am."

She smiles and walks off, I let out a relieved sigh, _she's gotten more hot-headed since she became a hunter_ , I thought before running to the lava wall after my new girlfriend.

**a hour later**

We are sitting in the woods me doing tricks with black-fire when we hear,

"Impudence!" said a satyr.

"Now, Maron," Chiron said. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to…to him."

I walk into the clearing and yell,"Maron, Grover heard Pan and guess what? While spending time with the hunters I heard a voice exactly like what Grover heard and I felt the aura of Pan, you will listen to Grover or my son of Hades side will send you to Tartarus never to return."

"We don't trust you human," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded.

"Nothing!" the elder in the middle chimed in. "You have found nothing."

"But, Leneus—"

Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs. The satyrs didn't look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly.

"Master Underwood," Silenus announced, "we will give you one more chance."

Grover brightened. "Thank you!"

"One more week."

"What? But sir! That's impossible!"

"One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing."

I yell,losing control of my body, my eyes become black-fire I say in a voice way scarier than it usually is when I'm angry my own,"Listen you fat old goats, Pan will only survive a few more years before fading your search is for naught, the wild god has only you keeping him from peaceful sleep in the void but instead you are selfish and won't let him rest in peace he is in the endless maze and you anger a son of Hades and Artemis, are you asking to be eaten by monsters?"

They all say,"The voice of death, this is a bad sign only the strongest children of Hades can know how to do that."

I smirk,"I am Theseus Di Angelo son of Hades and Artemis, wielder of Chaos, savior of Artemis, friend of the hunt, prince of the underworld, prince of the hunt, and he who chooses his own fate!"

The middle satyr shudders and says,"Yeah right if you truly choose your own fate then kill me, send me to Tartarus."

I smile cruelly and push my fist into the satyr's stomach and open a hole to Tartarus, everyone stares as I throw the satyr into the pit and close it I look at the other two satyrs look at me scared and I laugh evilly,

"As you can see I am not going to show you any mercy you can see Grover is not lying yet you continue to be selfish."

The satyrs all nod saying that Grover can take as long as he wants.

We turn around and Grover looks at Percy

"Hi, Percy," he said. "That went well, huh?"

They nod and we all walk away.

**Later**

I'm sitting at the Artemis table eating quickly when Quintus walks up and asks,"So son of Hades and Artemis pretty cool?"

I say,"Yes is being a soul in a machine body cool to you?"

He quickly looks around,"Please tell no one?"

I nod,"I won't, it wouldn't be fun if I told everyone and I love a bit of fun it keeps me cheerful."

He looks at me and nods.

I walk off to the arena.

In the arena I draw Chaos.

I say,"Do you really think I can't sense you?"

A boy with black hair walks up he says,"Well then I guess I'll capture you up front for Lord Kronos your power could mean a lot in this war."

I smile evilly,"If I wanted to defeat Olympus, I'd do it with my mother and get rid of the womanizers but all titans are womanizers, I love my father Hades but I now feel like a son of Artemis and I'll stay that way."

He mutters curses and says,"Well then I will capture you the hard way."

He draws a sword and I smile before lunging at him. He parries my downward slash and I crouch and slash diagonally which as I wanted he blocked I pull out my dagger and stab his stomach. Then I pull it out then stab it somewhere a bit more painful... If you know what I mean.

He screams and I jump back, he looks at me and I say,"Believe me what I'm about to do is way better than what the hunt would do."

I then take both my daggers and stab his chest then pulling him by the shirt with my daggers until I reach half-blood hill and I summon some hellhounds, I threw him out and I yell,

"Here ya go dinner."

I then turn around and walk back whistling.

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**There ya go my peoples I love it when you guys review thanks to Hermeschildawesome for staying with Theseus in both stories. Review people I'm going to praise reviews and to do so I have to have some.**


	18. The Labyrinth

ch.17 the labyrinth

I start to argue with my girlfriend, I say,"But Thalia I need to train I must be strong for the war to come."

She says,"No you are going to go and sleep Apollo healed you just today and now you are going to rest or so help me I will get your sister to beat the Hades out of you!"

I sigh and walk to the Artemis cabin and into my room.

**The next day**

I was still feeling shaky the next morning when Chiron called a war council. We met in the sword arena, which I thought was pretty strange— trying to discuss the fate of the camp while Mrs. O'Leary chewed on a life-size squeaky pink rubber yak.

Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. Clarisse and Annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing. Tyson and Grover sat as far away from each other as possible. Also present around the table: Juniper the tree nymph, Silena Beauregard, Travis and Connor Stoll, Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. That's how I knew it was serious. Argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. The whole time Annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard his whole body turned bloodshot.

"Luke must have known about the Labyrinth entrance," Annabeth said. "He knew everything about camp."

I thought I heard a little pride in her voice, like she still respected the guy, evil as he was.

Juniper cleared her throat. "That's what I was trying to tell you last night. The cave entrance has been there a long time. Luke used to use it."

Silena Beauregard frowned. "You knew about the Labyrinth entrance, and you didn't say anything?"

Juniper's face turned green. "I didn't know it was important. Just a cave. I don't like yucky old caves."

"She has good taste," Grover said.

"I wouldn't have paid any attention except…well, it was Luke." She blushed a little greener.

Grover huffed. "Forget what I said about good taste."

"Interesting," Quintus polished his sword as he spoke. "And you believe this young man, Luke, would dare use the Labyrinth as an invasion route?"

"Definitely," Clarisse said. "If he could get an army of monsters inside Camp Half-Blood, just pop up in the middle of the woods without having to worry about our magical boundaries, we wouldn't stand a chance. He could wipe us out easy. He must've been planning this for months."

"He's been sending scouts into the maze," Annabeth said. "We know because…because we found one."

"Chris Rodriguez," Chiron said. He gave Quintus a meaningful look.

"Ah," Quintus said. "The one in the…Yes, I understand."

"The one in the what?" I asked.

I then decided to use my powers to check all the caves around camp and I felt a life force in the basement of the Big House.

I say,"In the basement of the Big House, a guy, Chris Rodriguez, Chiron."

Clarisse glared at me. "The point is, Luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. He's searching for Daedalus's workshop."

I ask,"The guy who created the maze?"

I look at Quintus.

"Yes," Annabeth said. "The greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time. If the legends are true, his workshop is in the center of the Labyrinth. He's the only one who knew how to navigate the maze perfectly. If Luke managed to find the workshop and convince Daedalus to help him, Luke wouldn't have to fumble around searching for paths, or risk losing his army in the maze's traps. He could navigate anywhere he wanted—quickly and safely. First to Camp Half-Blood to wipe us out. Then…to Olympus."

The arena was silent except for Mrs. O'Leary's toy yak getting disemboweled: SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

Finally Beckendorf put his huge hands on the table. "Back up a sec, Annabeth, you said 'convince Daedalus'? Isn't Daedalus dead?"

Quintus grunted. "I would hope so. He lived, what, three thousand years ago? And even if he were alive, don't the old stories say he fled from the Labyrinth?"

I say,"And if he is as great an inventor as everyone says he could put his soul in a robot body to preserve himself, very effective but it causes father a lot of paper work."

Chiron clopped restlessly on his hooves. "That's the problem, my dear Quintus and Theseus. No one knows. There are rumors…well, there are many disturbing rumors about Daedalus, but one is that he disappeared back into the Labyrinth toward the end of his life. He might still be there."

"We need to go in," Annabeth announced. "We have to find the workshop before Luke does. If Daedalus is alive, we convince him to help us, not Luke. If Ariadne's string still exists, we make sure it never falls into Luke's hands."

"Wait a second," Percy said. "If we're worried about an attack, why not just blow up the entrance? Seal the tunnel?"

"Great idea!" Grover said. "I'll get the dynamite!"

"It's not so easy, stupid," I growled. "We tried that at the entrance we found in Phoenix. It didn't go well."

Annabeth nodded. "The Labyrinth is magical architecture, Percy. It would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances. In Phoenix, Clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball, and the maze entrance just shifted a few feet. The best we can do is prevent Luke from learning to navigate the Labyrinth."

"We could fight," Lee Fletcher said. "We know where the entrance is now. We can set up a defensive line and wait for them. If an army tries to come through, they'll find us waiting with our bows."

"We will certainly set up defenses," Chiron agreed. "But I fear Clarisse is right. The magical borders have kept this camp safe for hundreds of years. If Luke manages to get a large army of monsters into the center of camp, bypassing our boundaries…we may not have the strength to defeat them."

Nobody looked real happy about that news. Chiron usually tried to be upbeat and optimistic. If he was predicting we couldn't hold off an attack, that wasn't good.

"We have to get to Daedalus's workshop first," Annabeth insisted. "Find Ariadne's string and prevent Luke from using it."

"But if nobody can navigate in there," I said, "what chance do we have?"

"I've been studying architecture for years," she said. "I know Daedalus's Labyrinth better than anybody."

"From reading about it."

"Well, yes."

"That's not enough."

"It has to be!"

"It isn't!"

"Are you going to help me or not?"

I realized everyone was watching Annabeth and me like a tennis match. Mrs. O'Leary's squeaky yak went EEK! As she ripped off its pink rubber head.

Chiron cleared his throat. "First things first. We need a quest. Someone must enter the Labyrinth, find the workshop of Daedalus, and prevent Luke from using the maze to invade this camp."

"We all know who should lead this," Clarisse said. "Annabeth."

There was a murmur of agreement. I knew Annabeth had been waiting for her own quest since she was a little kid, but she looked uncomfortable.

"You've done as much as I have, Clarisse," she said. "You should go, too."

Clarisse shook her head. "I'm not going back in there."

Travis Stoll laughed. "Don't tell me you're scared. Clarisse, chicken?"

Clarisse got to her feet, I thought she was going to pulverize Travis, but she said in a shaky voice: "You don't understand anything, punk. I'm never going in there again. Never!"

She stormed out of the arena.

Travis looked around sheepishly. "I didn't mean to—"

Chiron raised his hand. "The poor girl has had a difficult year. Now, do we have agreement that Annabeth should lead the quest?"

We all nodded except Quintus. He folded his arms and stared at the table, but I wasn't sure anyone else noticed.

"Very well," Chiron turned to Annabeth. "My dear, it's your time to visit the Oracle. Assuming you return to us in one piece, we shall discuss what to do next."

I say,"Chiron I must also visit the Oracle if I get a quest I can find an artifact that I read about in May called the helms of shadow if I get those me and my siblings will be able to send away monsters faster."

He nods,"Yes I've heard of those is there anything else besides them?"

I say,"Yes tons of weapons made of celestial bronze, stygian iron a metal found during roman times imperial gold, Olympian silver, and other weapons made from items in the underworld children of Hades have been putting them there since the start of Grecce, it's said to be put in the labyrinth to preserve the honor of Hades children's strength there is even a stronger version of Chaos in there that the first son of Hades hid away it's name κρημνίζω or Raze, with a z."

Chiron shifts nervously, "Fine then both of you must go."


	19. Battle of the Labyrinth

**Back in business , here's the 18th chapter.**

* * *

ch.18

**Theseus POV**

I sigh, I was in for my prophecy first I can't help but remember that it might get me killed,

You shall dive into the endless maze,

Find the lost treasure,

And become strong,

Son of Hades will live or die by the hands of his brother,

find family to kill or keep.

return quickly or lose your friends

I sigh and run angrily to my room in the Artemis cabin and I sleep peacefully.

**The next day before Annabeth's quest**

I lead Thalia and Nico into the maze and we trek through slowly through and finally after 10 minutes we all know we're lost,I growl,"That's it! Earth shift and lead the way to the weapons of my siblings!"

The cavern rumbles and in front of us stands a man appearing to be about 20, He says,"Great Another of my stupid demigod siblings, well only those that beat me can get past and my weakness is something no child of Hades has had for a millennia, die worthless half-brothers! "

I growl again and put my hands in front of me as his fist connects with my palm, I smile at his look of shock,"unlike you dad has taught me true power, meet my black fire fist."

I make black fire cover my hand and punch his face, he steps back and asks,"How?"

I say,"I'm Theseus Di Angelo, son of Hades, adopted son of Artemis, user of black fire, wielder of Chaos, and your death."

He says,"I'll kill you worthless demigod."

I look at him uninterested, his face goes red with anger and he yells,"I'll kill you all!"

I say,"Now you go too far, either get out of our way and still have use of your arms or get in our way and I break your limbs like they're twigs."

He laughs and I jump forward and grab hi leg before bending it forward in an impossible angle a loud CRACK! is heard and he screams in pain I break hi other two arms and Nico shadow travels away to tell dad then I notice something,

He was the one to live or die by the hands of his brother he was the son of Hades mentioned and I found family that I kept, well half-way there in the prophecy

I grab Thalia's hand and we run til we find a pair of Stygian Iron doors I look at Thalia and she says,"Listen Theseus I think moving the the Labyrinth took a lot-"

I didn't hear the rest of her sentence because I collapsed.

**Thalia's POV**

I run forward as my boyfriend collapses. I sigh and use the medical supplies. I continue to heal him as he sleeps for two days.

**Theseus' POV**

I wake up to Thalia and Nico looking at me in concern and I say,"I'm okay guys, I just need to get to Raze and I'll be able to get back to perfect health but if I don't get it I may loose control of my black fire we're so close to it that my powers are unstable the farther I get, Ok, Nico place your hand on that circle on the left door and concentrate to get the shadows spiraling like fire."

He does so and I put my hand on the right and use black fire, with a loud Bang! the door opens and I look at the tons of weapons I look at Nico and he nods before stabbing the ground with his sword he yells,

"Serve me!"

Out of the ground about 50 skeletons appear one grabs Nico as he falls back I throw him a special flask filled with a black liquid, he drinks it and instantly he jumps up. I nod and summon my own skeletons about 25 and 3 spartus.

I look at the skeletons and say,"Grab some weapons and carry them to camp half-blood."

I walk into the back as they all grab a weapon and sitting there in stygian glass is Raze a sword made completely out of solidified black fire unlike Chaos which is made out of solidified black fire with Stygian Iron and Stygian steel mixed in.

Days(inside the labyrinth, outside it's been 2 weeks) Later

We step out of the entrance and I yell,"Hey guys, I've got some weapons for you, come up and grab some."

They all grab a weapon made out of one of each of the materials except Stygian, which we sent to Hades, I uncover Raze and say,

"Nico, follow me."

We walk out to Zeus' fist and I say,"Now press that button over there and stay beside it."

He does so and the entrance closes and a box of solidified black fire closes around him.I rip away the cloth from Raze and grab the hilt in an instant, black fire cloaks my body and everything around me shakes, I feel the ground shifting and cracking.

When it dies down I grab Nico and run out just in time as Zeus' fist collapses.

Thalia's POV

I watch as a beam of black fire flies into the air and bends around the beam heads towards me and before anybody can do anything it hits me instead of being hurt I feel like I'm getting stronger and the black fire moves to my hands and hovers above them everyone looks at me in surprise.

Seconds later Theseus runs over he looks at my hands and his eyes widen he nods to me and looks at Nico

Theseus ' POV

I look at Nico and hand him Chaos, coverred in black cloth, I say,"On the way here I put most of my black fire powers in Chaos because if I didn't I'd overload, now keep this covered up and if you need it rip the cloth away and grab the hilt and you'll gain that power, be careful."

He nods and puts chaos on his back.

Then the Titan lord's army exploded from the Labyrinth

I mean I'd been in fights before, but this was a full-scale battle. The first thing I saw were a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly my ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flattened cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.

"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled. The catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Apollo's archers fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armor of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in armor, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.

But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them. I saw Annabeth draw a sword and engage one of them. Nearby, Tyson was riding a giant. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the giant's back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield—BONG! BONG! BONG!

Chiron calmly aimed arrow after arrow, taking down a monster with every shot. But more enemies just kept climbing out of the maze. Finally a hellhound—not Mrs. O'Leary—leaped out of the tunnel and barreled straight toward the satyrs.

"GO!" Chiron yelled at Percy.

He drew Riptide and charged.

As he raced across the battlefield, I saw horrible things. An enemy half-blood was fighting with a son of Dionysus, but it wasn't much of a contest. The enemy stabbed him in the arm then clubbed him over the head with the butt of his sword, and Dionysus's son went down, I stopped watching then and yelled in anger, nobody is going to hurt my friends anymore.

I jumped forward.

I looked at Nico to see a army around him

"Nico!" I yelled.

He looked at me and I nodded.

He took a deep breath and brought out Chaos. He ripped the cloth away and caught the hilt, suddenly the earth rumbled and Black fire surrounds him and the monster army around him.

I turned and continued the fight , killing monsters and enemy dmeigods alike, only later did I realize, I had an aura of black fire disintegrating everything around me.

Just when it seemed like the battle had balanced out again—like we might stand a chance—an unearthly shriek echoed out of the Labyrinth, a sound I had heard before.

Kampê shot into the sky, her bat wings fully extended. She landed on the top of the rubble of Zeus's Fist and surveyed the carnage. Her face was filled with evil glee. The mutant animal heads growled at her waist. Snakes hissed and swirled around her legs. In her right hand she held a glittering ball of thread—Ariadne's string—but she popped it into a lion's mouth at her waist and drew her curved swords. The blades glowed green with poison. Kampê screeched in triumph, and some of the campers screamed. Others tried to run and got trampled by hellhounds or giants.

"Di Immortales!" Chiron yelled. He quickly aimed an arrow, but Kampê seemed to sense his presence. She took flight with amazing speed, and Chrion's arrow whizzed harmlessly past her head.

Tyson untangled himself from the giant whom he'd pummeled into unconsciousness. He ran at our lines, shouting, "Stand! Do not run from her! Flight!"

But then a hellhound leaped on him, and Tyson and the hound went rolling away.

Kampê landed on the Athena command tent, smashing it flat. Kampê hissed and sliced at me as she noticed me charging her but her blade decayed turning into a rusty pile of metal dust.

Three of Chiron's arrows sprouted from Kampê's chest, but she just roared louder.

Slam!

My eyesight went black. The next thing I knew, Nico and I were side by side on the ground. The monster had its forelegs on our chests, holding us down. Hundreds of snakes slithered right above me, hissing like laughter. Kampê raised her green-tinged swords, and I knew we were out of options.

Then, behind me, something howled. A wall of darkness slammed into Kampê, sending the monster sideways. And Mrs. O'Leary was standing over us, snarling and snapping at Kampê.

"Good girl!" said a familiar voice. Daedalus was fighting his way out of the Labyrinth, slashing down enemies left and right as he made his way toward us. Next to him was someone else—a familiar giant, much taller than the Laistrygonians, with a hundred rippling arms, each holding a huge chunk of rock.

"Briares!" Tyson cried in wonder.

"Hail, little brother!" Briares bellowed. "Stand firm!"

And as Mrs. O'Leary leaped out of the way, the Hundred-Handed One launched a volley of boulders at Kampê. The rocks seemed to enlarge as they left Briares's hands. There were so many, it looked like half the earth had learned to fly.

BOOOOOM!

Where Kampê had stood a moment before was a mountain of boulders, almost as tall as Zeus's Fist. The only sign that the monster had ever existed were two green sword points sticking through the cracks.

A cheer went up from the campers, but our enemies weren't done yet. One of the dracaenae yelled, "Ssssslay them! Kill them all or Kronossss will flay you alive!"

Apparently, that threat was more terrifying than we were. The giants surged forward in a last desperate attempt. One surprised Chiron with a glancing blow to the back legs, and he stumbled and fell. Six giants cried in glee and rushed forward.

"No!" I screamed, but I was too far away to help.

Then it happened. Grover opened his mouth, and the most horrible sound I'd ever heard came out. It was like a brass trumpet magnified a thousand times—the sound of pure fear.

As one, the forces of Kronos dropped their weapons and ran for their lives. The giants trampled the dracaenae trying to get into the Labyrinth first. Telekhines and hellhounds and enemy half-bloods scrambled after them. The tunnel rumbled shut, and the battle as over. The clearing was quiet except for the fires burning in the woods, and the cries of the wounded.

I helped Nico to his feet. We ran to Chiron.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

He was lying on his side, trying in vain to get up. "How embarrassing," he muttered. "I think I will be fine. Fortunately, we do not shoot centaurs with broken… Ow! …broken legs.

"You need help," Nico said. "I'll get a medic from Apollo's cabin."

"No," Chiron insisted. "There are more serious injuries to attend to. Go! I am fine. But, Grover…later we must talk about how you did that."

I looked around and found the old inventor.

"Daedalus," I croaked my voice raw with anger.

"Yes, my boy," the inventor said. "I made a very bad mistake. I came to correct it."

Daedalus had a few scratches that were bleeding golden oil, but he looked better than most of us. Apparently his automaton body healed itself quickly. Mrs. O'Leary loomed behind him, licking the wounds on her master's head so Daedalus's hair stood up funny. Briares stood next to him, surrounded by a group of awed campers and satyrs. He looked kind of bashful, but he was signing autographs on armor, shields, and T-shirts.

"I found the Hundred-Handed One as I came through the maze," Daedalus explained. "It seems he had the same idea, to come help, but he was lost. And so we fell in together. We both came to make amends."

"Yay!" Tyson jumped up and down. "Briares! I knew you would come!"

"I did not know," the Hundred-Handed One said. "But you reminded me who I am, Cyclops. You are the hero."

Tyson blushed, but I patted him on the back. "I knew that a long time ago," I said. "But, Daedalus…the Titan army is still down there. Even without the string, they'll be back. They'll find a way sooner or later, with Kronos leading them."

Daedalus sheathed his sword. "You are right. As long as the Labyrinth is here, your enemies can use it. Which is why the Labyrinth cannot continue."

Annabeth stared at him. "But you said the Labyrinth is tied to your life force! As long as you're alive—"

"Yes, my young architect," Daedalus agreed. "When I die, the Labyrinth will die as well. And so I have a present for you."

He slung a leather satchel off his back, unzipped it, and produced a sleek silver laptop computer—one of the ones I'd seen in the workshop. On the lid was the blue symbol Δ.

"My work is here," he said. "It's all I managed to save from the fire. Notes on projects I never started. Some of my favorite designs. I couldn't develop these over the last few millennia. I did not dare reveal my work to the mortal world. But perhaps you will find it interesting."

He handed the computer to Annabeth, who stared at it like it was solid gold. "You're giving me this? But this is priceless! This is worth…I don't even know how much!"

"Small compensation for the way I have acted," Daedalus said. "You were right, Annabeth, about children of Athena. We should be wise, and I was not. Someday you will be a greater architect than I ever was. Take my ideas and improve them. It is the least I can do before I pass on."

"Whoa," I said. "Pass on? But you can't just kill yourself. That's wrong."

He shook his head. "Not as wrong as hiding from my crimes for two thousand years. Genius does not excuse evil, Theseus. My time has come. I must face my punishment."

"You won't get a fair trial," Annabeth said. "The spirit of Minos sits in judgment—"

"I will take what comes," he said. "And trust in the justice of the Underworld, such as it is. That is all we can do, isn't it?"

He looked straight at Nico, and I say,"Not when you have a fiend that's a son of Hades wait a second"

Daedalus nodded. "Well done, son of Hades. You are becoming wise." Then he turned toward Percy.

I turned and did an Iris message to Hades when he appears I say,"Father I would like to inform you Minos is unfit to be a judge and I would reccomend the original Perseus for the job."

He nods,"Sure thing son."

I hear Dadaelus say,

"One last favor, Percy Jackson. I cannot leave Mrs. O'Leary alone. And she has no desire to return to the Underworld. Will you care for her?"

Percy looked at the massive black hound, who whimpered pitifully, still licking Daedalus's hair. He said, "Yeah. Of course I will."

"Then I am ready to see my son…and Perdix," he said. "I must tell them how sorry I am."

Annabeth had tears in her eyes.

Daedalus turned toward Nico, who drew Chaos, his sword. At first I was afraid Nico would kill the old inventor, but he simply said, "Your time is long since come. Be released and rest."

A smile of relief spread across Daedalus's face. He froze like a statue. His skin turned transparent, revealing the bronze gears and machinery whirring inside his body. Then the statue turned to gray ash and disintegrated.

Mrs. O'Leary howled. I patted her head, trying to comfort her as best I could. The earth rumbled—an earthquake that could probably be felt in every major city across the country—as the ancient Labyrinth collapsed. Somewhere, I hoped, the remains of the Titan's strike force had been buried.

I looked around at the carnage in the clearing, and the weary faces of my friends.

"Come on," I told them. "We have work to do."


	20. council of cloven elders

ch.19 council of cloven elders

**Theseus POV**

At noon, the Council of Cloven Elders held an emergency meeting in their sacred grove. The three senior satyrs were there, along with Chiron, who was in wheelchair form. His broken horse leg was still mending, so he would be confined to the chair for a few months, until the leg was strong enough to take his weight. The grove was filled with satyrs and dryads and naiads up from the water—hundreds of them, anxious to hear what would happen. Juniper, Annabeth, and I stood by Grover's side.

Silenus wanted to exile Grover immediately, but Chiron persuaded him to at least hear evidence first, so we told everyone what had happened in the crystal cavern, and what Pan had said. Then several eyewitnesses from the battle described the weird sound Grover had made, which drove the Titan's army back underground.

"It was panic," insisted Juniper. "Grover summoned the power of the wild god."

"Panic?" Percy asked.

"Percy," Chiron explained, "during the first war of the gods and the Titans,

Lord Pan let forth a horrible cry that scared away the enemy armies. It is—it was his greatest power—a massive wave of fear that helped the gods win the day. The word panic is named after Pan, you see. And Grover used that power, calling it forth from within himself."

"Preposterous!" Silenus bellowed. "Sacrilege! Perhaps the wild god favored us with a blessing. Or perhaps Grover's music was so awful it scared the enemy away!"

I stomped my foot to the ground and I yelled,

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU FAT SATYRS DON'T UNDERSTAND DEATH AT ALL! WHEN A GOD WANTS TO FADE THEY TELL A DEMIGOD AND THAT DEMIGOD SPREADS THE WORD BUT NOOO YOU GUYS COULDN'T LET PAN FADE IN PEACE, NOW YOU ARE DEAD BECAUSE YOU'VE TRIED MY PATIENCE!"

The satyrs begin to cower and I jump forward grabbing Silenus by his shirt.

Percy placed a hand on my shoulder and said,"Stop if you do this..."

He trailed off and I replied,"Too late, my mind is set and I am going to burn these satyrs and replace them with fit replacements."

He looked into my eyes and I could see fear in his eyes.

I turned and summoned black fire to my hands.

The satyrs stepped back and I jumped burning through Silenus turning him to ash and I said,

"When I kill you satyrs you don't become plants, you go to the underworld because if you can't become a plant you have a mortal soul instead, you see my dad has given me this knowledge in my training, you satyrs are not going to be shown mercy, since you can't seem to face facts."

I jumped and burned the last two to ash as well.

Then a whiny voice rang out,"Great now I need a new council of cloven elders, thanks a lot Theseus."

Percy asks,"Oh come on, you call him by his actual name?"

Dionysus nods,"Of course black fire can harm even the Olympians that's why at first father wanted to kill him but now he's dating Thalia he has something that links him to Olympus."

I sighed and said,"That doesn't mean Zeus won't be less one wine god."

He gulped and ran off,I then looked at Percy and said,"I'm going to bed see ya."


	21. AN

**I've decided to put this back on hold and I want you guys to P.M. me any ideas you get when  
I start my new story.**

**thanks**


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